Battle Of The Binge

Peter Bennett is celebrating the end of the week by knocking back a glass of lager at the Bell Inn. The Nottingham University engineering student estimates he'll down eight or nine pints before night's end. That's what he says he puts away in his thrice-weekly sessions, which start at a pub around 9 p.m. and end at a club five or six hours later. "We definitely drink more" in Britain, he says. "It's just the culture to get pissed, I guess."

Outside, two young men square off drunkenly but stop when a police van glides by. Between midnight...