Arthur's day: Ireland faces up to the dark side of the Guinness celebrations — theguardian.com

When Arthur's Day launched in Ireland in 2009, it was a nice enough event. Yes, it was set up by Diageo, the owners of Guinness. And perhaps its central conceit – raising a pint to founder Arthur Guinness, at 17.59, to mark the year of the company's establishment – was a bit contrived. But pubgoers embraced the idea and, by and large, the atmosphere was celebratory. Since then, Arthur's Day has become ever more boozy and debauched. Last year, there was a 30% increase in ambulance callouts in Dublin on the night, while more than 2,000 hospital beds were occupied with alcohol-related illnesses.

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