So George Best is dead. While he was apparently a good footballer (having no interest in football, I can only go on what other people say), I can't understand the huge amount of mourning that is going on.

Lets face it, the man was an alcoholic, a drunk driver and slapped people around.

But it's alright, because when he was sober he was a 'great guy'.

Which indirectly must mean that hitting people and driving while drunk is acceptable if you are one of these 'great guys'. So I suppose that the family wiped out by a drunk driver that I dealt with a couple of years ago this Christmas, were just a speed bump if the killer was a 'great guy'?

Lets not speak ill of the dead, and there are a lot of dead due to drink. He is one of 6,400 people who will die this year directly because of alcohol. That's not counting the 40,000+ who die due to causes 'related' to alcohol. I don't think there will be any national mourning for the 16 other people who died of similar causes on the same day as him. Or the 109 who died in relation to drink.

Interesting that he died in the same week as the government making alcohol available around the clock. Increasing the access to alcohol is apparently going to cut these deaths?

I'm sorry, but I find the death of Richard Burns, far more tragic. A young man, dead at the age of 34 of a brain tumour.

I think I'll keep these comments between you and me though, as Manchester United are playing West Ham later today, and I don't fancy being dragged out my car and stoned to death for daring to suggest that Best brought his illness on himself.

I see a lot of alcoholics, and it's the pure waste that makes me angry, not only of their life, but the damage that they cause the lives of their family and friends.

Talking to my station mates, my opinion isn't uncommon which is probably as an effect of dealing with alcoholics day in, day out I suppose...