'This bewitching poison' about to open!

I was at the RCP last week installing the exhibition 'This bewitching poison' which opens to the public on Monday. 

Thanks to Emma, Beth and everyone at the RCP it has all come together very smoothly. The objects fitted on the walls and in the cases and all the lenders were happy with the results. I hope the visitors will be too.

There are some great combinations of objects- Hogarth's 'Gin Lane' and Martin Rowson's 'Priority Lane' form one of the most potent. But also some less obvious ones- a Liverpool football shirt alongside alcohol-related health promotion material from the 1980s and 90s and Temperance prints alongside a 1970s drink driving leaflet.

It is very timely that the issue of minimum pricing of alcoholic drinks has sprung back into the news too. This seems to be a story that the press keep coming back to. This time it was a letter signed by a number of eminent doctors and others objecting to the part the alcohol industry played in the government's decision to shelve minimum pricing.