Rev Richard Coles has 'already started packing' ahead of big move away from church

express.co.uk:

Radio Times, he likened the scenario to that of Netflix series Narcos, which is about Latin American drug dealers in the 1980s.Blaming alcohol for his life partner's death, Richard admitted we all know the dangers that abusing alcohol can lead to, but we are reluctant to admit them."Alcohol caused my early widowhood," he began."[David] was 43, a clergyman and a former A&E charge nurse."He sighed: "Not an obvious victim, you might think, of alcoholism, but he had been drinking excessively since his teenage years, as a palliative – alcohol is the most readily available anaesthetic in the world – and as a recreation."Richard explained how bewildered he is that something as "destructive" as alcohol can be drank on the daily by anyone."It seems extraordinary to me, as one who has suffered the consequences of alcoholism, that this most destructive of drugs should be as casually consumed as cappuccino," he shrugged."I know people who worry more about the health consequences of drinking a coffee at breakfast than a bottle of wine at dinner."There is plenty of evidence for its dangerous effects, anecdotally and statistically – around 8,000 people die of alcohol addiction every year in the UK, with tens of thousands more hurried to their deaths; hospital admissions for alcoholic liver disease have risen more than 60 per cent in the last ten years; and alcohol is 74 per cent more affordable now than in 1987."He added: "We all know the dangers, but we are reluctant to admit them, because it spoils our enjoyment of a daily pleasure for the vast majority who 'drink responsibly', to use an industry phrase."But while he laid out the truth, he confessed he has also been part of that crowd."I am one of them," he nodded."But if we are to.