IN A festive message with a difference today, accident and emergency consultant Habib Dardouri asks readers to take it easy during the Christmas and New Year period.

Our doctors and nurses are being put under increasing pressures, he says, and it's all down to one thing - excessive alcohol.

Many people like to have a booze-up at Christmas time and get with the party spirit - that's understandable enough.

But all too often there are those who take it a step too far.

That's the reason why the A&E departments will be full in the coming days with people who have had too much to drink and been involved in serious falls, accidents or even domestic violence.

Local health trusts have issued safe partying tips to try to keep these sort of issues to a minimum.

And we can only heartily back these tips.

By all means, have some fun.

But it will be a much merrier Christmas and a happier New Year for all if we stick to these simple guidelines and keep our excesses to a sane level.