In 2006, alcohol killed 8,758 people and cost the country an estimated ã20bn.
By way of comparison, since 2001 the annual death rate from international terrorism in the UK averages out as eight.
Compare last year with 25 years before.
In 1972 the UK saw 10,631 terrorist shootings and 1,853 bombings; 470 people were killed by terrorism.
In 2007, there were 47 shootings and 20 bombings - all in Northern Ireland and three people were killed by paramilitaries.
There were precisely no shootings, bombings or deaths associated with al-Qaeda.
It was the same story the year before.
Indeed, with the exception of the 52 people killed during the appalling attacks of 7 July 2005, no-one in Britain has been killed by al-Qaeda affiliates since 9/11.
observes the BBC, reporting on the government's new National Security Strategy.
We had better watch out - they'll be banning london.pm soon, raiding our houses looking for orange mercurial, or plots to smuggle binary drinks onto aircraft. "We have evidence^Whearsay rumours from disgruntled neighbours that you were planning to mix Gin and Tonic in a Champagne bucket in an airline toilet. That's a very dangerous combination at high altitude."
