VIOLENCE, injury, sexual assault and yobbish behaviour; it's all been blamed on binge drinking, and rarely a week goes by without either a councillor, correspondent to this newspaper, or police officer, bemoaning its dangers.

But a new report has been published, which precisely defines a binge; and the results may surprise even those who consider themselves moderate drinkers.

According to the report, published in the New Scientist magazine, a binge constitutes just over four pints of British beer, or two-and-a-half pints of lager, or five bottles of US-style beer in two hours if you're a man.

A woman can only drink three pints of beer, two-and-a-half Aussie schooners of export lager, or about two-thirds of a bottle of wine in the same time, to be considered on a binge.

More worrying still, women who drink only at weekends, even if they drank less overall than other women drinkers, have higher levels of markers for liver disease. However, young men still remain most at risk from the problems caused by bingeing, which include high blood pressure and sudden cardiac death.

Report author Timothy Naimi at the Center For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, says: "Basically, bingeing is drinking to get drunk."

The New Scientist report was published on the same day that an influential Swedish researcher poured scorn on the government's 24-hour drinking proposals, fuelling the controversy over what should be done to tackle the problem.

Professor Robin Room, director of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at Stockholm University, said: "The historical control policies in England, including 11pm closing, have tended to keep problems with drinking relatively low by international standards. But that has been slowly eroded over the years and now has been eroded much further by this step to 24-hour drinking."

And, in a body-blow for the government's cherished belief that a "Mediterranean-style" drinking culture of pubs, clubs and bars open all hours would lessen bingeing, he added: "Scientific literature from countries that have extended opening hours show that where hours are increased, the number of problems increase."

However, if tipplers in Bournemouth are anything to go by, the modern temperance movement has an uphill struggle ahead in persuading us all to cut down on what we drink, and how we drink it.

Mike Anderson, 28 and his girlfriend, Emma Richard, both from London, are on holiday in the town and were enjoying a drink at the Brass House in Westover Road.

Mike's reaction to the news? "No way! Really? I'd never have thought they classed binge drinking as so little."

Emma was equally surprised. "If that's true, it's a bit worrying, but I don't know if it would change the way I drink. Well, not at the moment, anyway," she said.

Drinkers at the Tapp & Hobbit took the same view. Sam, who was 21 and came from Southbourne said: "Even if it's true about binge drinking, I don't expect anyone will pay attention, will they?"

General manager of Elements nightclub Steve Hudson, who also chairs Townwatch, the forum which keeps an eye on drinking and nightlife in Bournemouth, was phlegmatic about the reports.

"By law, no licensee is allowed to sell alcohol to a person who is already drunk," he said, adding that the Townwatch Group, which includes most of Bournemouth's pubs and clubs, had taken its own steps to cut down on bingeing, by axing happy hours and ensuring, where it could, that no establishment sold alcohol at less than £1.50.

He and his staff had noticed a difference in drinking behaviour over the past few years, he said.

"All the drinking games, that kind of thing, have all gone, and we've tried to stop stuff like 'buy one, get one free' and 'all you can drink' type offers. We're actually licensed until 3am but it's very rare to even sell a drink after 2.30am, people would rather have water, and the average number of drinks we serve to each customer per night is just three."

However, he pointed out: "What we do know is that people are drinking before they come out for the evening." With supermarkets selling lager more cheaply than he could get it from his supplier, he believes this is an area that critics of pubs and clubs often fail to take into account.

It's tempting to believe that binge drinking and going on a bender are a modern affliction or, as some politicians would have us believe, a particularly ugly feature of today's Britain. However, during the Gin Craze of the 1720s, an estimated 11.2 million gallons of the brain-rotting spirit were consumed in London in one year. At roughly seven gallons per adult, it makes today's binge drinkers look like amateurs.