Russian v. English drinking

Astute reader Lisa noticed a London newspaper writing about Russia's chronic drink problem in the post I made that contained the cute Russian YouTube hit. Lisa asked:

But am I the only one who noticed the Pot calling the Kettle's drink problem?

Lisa, I think you were, and evidence of how well you did observing that comes from today's Sunday Times:

"BRITONS are heavier drinkers than the Russians, according to official data from the World Health Organisation.

Alcohol consumption per head is greater in the UK, and England on its own tops the European table for child and teenage drunkenness....

The figures from the organisation show that the average Briton drinks 9.29 litres of pure alcohol per year, compared with 8.87 litres in Russia. That places Britain 16th in a world table, ahead of Russia in 18th place. Top was Luxembourg, followed by the Czech Republic, Estonia and Germany."