10 reasons not to give up wine for Lent

1. What is Lent all about anyway? Seriously, what is the point of giving things up for 40 days before Easter? It's just another way for the Church to make you feel bad about yourself. As far as I know, Jesus drank wine on Holy Thursday, and so should you.

2. It's springtime. The days are getting longer, the daffodils are starting to raise their heads again, we should be happy, we should be gambolling in the fields like the lambs....

3. Spring lamb - really needs a nice glass of Bordeaux.

4. Wine is good for you (in moderation). Plenty of evidence on this, no need to revisit it here.

5. Wine is good for your sex life. Katherine Donnelly in the Indo last Saturday was writing about a study on women in Italy (where else?) and they proved that wine drinking was better for your sex life. You still need someone to do it with though, not sure if wine helps you out there.

6. Wine makes food taste better. See point 3.

7. Wine cheers you up. The country needs it - do your civic duty!

8. It's cheaper than ever - thanks to intense competition, below-cost selling, reductions in duty, wine is cheaper now than it has ever been in this country.

9. Wine is a life-enhancing drink, far removed from the binge-drinking, fighting and vomiting that the anti-alcohol brigade fret about. So, ignore them and enjoy a glass with your dinner, to hell with the begrudgers!

10. The children need shoes...