Alcohol addiction is afflicting City professionals in increasing numbers, counselling organisations report. Alcoholics Anonymous confirmed the surge stating it now held up to 22 meetings a week across the City of London and Canary Wharf. A decade ago the number of meetings was “substantially fewer”. Dr Mike McPhillips, a consultant psychiatrist specialising in addiction at the Priory Hospital, in London, said the city had a culture that encouraged excessive use of alcohol, exacerbated by the pressures of the recent boom in mergers and acquisitions. Financial Times 02/09/06 page 1, page 4