A LITTLE of what you fancy does you good...but in North Yorkshire, it looks like some people don't know when to stop.

New government figures show prosecutions for drunkenness have soared by almost a fifth over the past decade to one for every 1,250 people living in the county.

It's enough to make us hang our heads in shame and reach for the Alka-Seltzer - but wait, it might not be all our fault.

Ministers say tourists are likely to be at least partly to blame for the 18.2 per cent rise.

Home Office Minister John Denham said: "It is not possible to say what proportion of those prosecuted live in the area.

"Prosecutions of people from outside the area are likely to be much higher in some areas than others."

Mr Denham said this was likely to be the case in places which get a lot of

visitors, such as York.

The worst figures in the country belong to the City of London, which has

almost 12 prosecutions for every 1,000 residents. The increase in North Yorkshire compares favourably with counties such as Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire and Essex - which recorded figures in excess of 200 per cent.

Seems that, as a county, we're not as black as we might be sometimes painted.

Something to celebrate, perhaps?

Updated: 11:08 Thursday, July 26, 2001