Recovering from the infamous New Year Hangover was all the harder for us in France this year when we discovered, after dragging ourselves to the pub for an indispensable hair of the dog, that the most thirst-quenching of hangover solutions had just become that little bit more expensive.

The hike had been decided on in early December (happy Christmas!), when the French parliament approved a bill to raise beer tax by an excruciating 160%.

For the average French pub-goer, this is not a world-shattering change. But that’s because the average French pub-goer only drinks around five pints of beer per month. Per month! The average British or Irish pub-goer drinks that much in one night.