But in the case of drink-related road injuries and deaths, the figures are unambiguous. Overall, almost 17,000 males were hospitalised by motor vehicle accidents - with 37 per cent of those attributable to alcohol, that's 6,220. Even among women, with only 18 per cent of the 9,178 total road accident hospitalisations attributed to the role of alcohol, the total is 1652. In drownings, although the total figures are much smaller, alcohol is thought to play a part in just over a third. The report found drinking to be a very significant factor in deaths and injuries from fire - the attributable fraction is 44 per cent.
Alcohol consumption remains a huge drain on the health system through injury.
This is true even in Australia, where the gap between Dante's language and his modern readers is not just one of time, but of distance. A newly published book, edited by two Flinders academics, Ms Margaret Baker and Dr Diana Glenn, demonstrates that the gap has been successfully bridged. The book contains 17 essays, all edited and refereed versions of papers selected from the biennial Dante Colloquia series that has been held in Australia from 1982 to 1999. There are many publications, many Internet sites and a Dante encyclopedia has recently been published in English. The encyclopedia project enlisted contributions from 144 international scholars, Dr Glenn among them.