Drinking on the isles

So the question is: is it just British to get wasted? Is it in the genes and the history of Britain, or is it a phenomenon lately that the British are getting way drunker?

"...many here contend Britain is literally drinking itself to death, with a record 9,031 people dying from overdrinking in 2008, up 125 percent since 1992. Experts are warning of a national epidemic in liver disease. One major survey released in April showed the British to be the heaviest binge drinkers in the European Union, with almost one in nine reportedly guzzling at least seven drinks a sitting."

And that's a major feat, considering Germany is a big drinking part of the EU. So is it just British to drink? I suppose they may be the ones to "invent" the big pint of beer and the sherry after dinner, but I'm not so sure it's just a British phenomenon.

Americans are drinking more during this recession. They also found an interesting correlation between having a higher power and drinking:

"Those who seldom or never attend church are substantially more likely than more frequent church attenders to say they drink; and those who have no religious identity, Catholics, and non-Christians are more likely to drink than Protestants."

And Catholics are Latin American and Irish, mostly. England developed Protestantism, so are the Brits really predisposed to drinking? I don't know what this all means, so make your own conclusions.