On being accused of drunkenness by fellow politician Bessie Braddock, the British prime minister Winston Churchill is quoted as replying “And you are ugly, but at least I shall be sober in the morning”. Clearly, Churchill had not succumbed to the 'beer goggles' effect; otherwise he might have viewed his colleague in a more favourable light.

Many of us are aware of beer goggles — the invisible optical aids that make members of the opposite sex appear more attractive after a few drinks — but until recently, the phenomenon had not been subjected to the rigours of scientific experiment. However, Barry Jones, a psychologist from the University of Glasgow, has set out to change all that (“Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder”, BBC News, 18 August).

In his experiment, Jones showed students 120 photographs of men and women, and asked them to judge their attractiveness on a scale from one to seven — seven being the most attractive. He discovered that, on average, the students who had drunk a moderate amount of alcohol found the people 25% more attractive than did those in the sober control group.

Jones related his new findings back to one of his previous studies, saying “What we may have here is an explanation for why moderate doses of alcohol increase the chance of unprotected sex. It might be because the alcohol makes the person's partner seem more attractive” (Scotland on Sunday, 18 August).

Professor Geoff Palmer, from Heriot-Watt University's International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, had a more straightforward view: “This research confirms what many drinkers already know; the world seems a hell of a lot better after a couple of pints” (Scotland on Sunday).