In this episode, I sit down with Andy Ramage, former City broker turned one of the leading voices in the alcohol free movement, for a raw conversation about alcohol, stress, identity and the habits many of us have normalised for years without ever really questioning.

What starts as a discussion about drinking quickly becomes something much bigger. We talk about the reality that alcohol is often the only drug people feel pressured to justify not taking, despite the growing links to anxiety, poor sleep, depression, chronic illness and multiple forms of cancer. We also get into the way drinking has become embedded into almost every part of modern life, from networking events and holidays to parenting, celebrations and stress relief.

Andy reflects on the moment he realised many of the people he once viewed as successful were privately exhausted, disconnected and unhappy behind closed doors, despite outward appearances suggesting otherwise. I also speak openly about my own experience of doing 14 months alcohol free, slipping back into old habits, and eventually reaching the point where alcohol no longer felt like something I was sacrificing.

We get into confidence, emotional regulation, social conditioning, performance, relationships and the uncomfortable truth that many of us spend years running on empty whilst convincing ourselves everything is fine.

There are also some pretty controversial conversations around the industries that profit from unhealthy coping mechanisms, the cultural conditioning we grow up with around alcohol, and why younger generations are increasingly rejecting it altogether.

This isn’t about judgement or preaching to people. It’s an honest conversation about awareness, health, mindset and whether the things we’ve been told help us relax are actually keeping many of us anxious, depleted and disconnected from ourselves.

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Key moments include:

✔ Why alcohol is often the last thing many of us are willing to question

✔ The growing research linking alcohol to cancer, anxiety, poor sleep and declining mental health

✔ Why society normalises drinking but questions people who choose not to drink

✔ The identity shift that comes with removing alcohol from your life

✔ Andy’s transformation from burnt out City broker to one of the biggest voices in the alcohol free movement

✔ My honest reflections on slipping back into old drinking habits after 14 months alcohol free

✔ Why moderation works for some people and completely unravels for others

✔ The hidden impact alcohol has on productivity, emotional regulation, relationships and parenting

✔ Why younger generations are beginning to reject alcohol culture altogether

✔ The financial and cultural systems that continue to profit from unhealthy coping mechanisms

✔ Why so many people never truly discover what they’re capable of because they spend decades either drinking or recovering from drinking

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Follow Ellie McKay:

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Follow Andy Ramage:

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This episode was actually recorded a couple of years ago, before alcohol became the mainstream conversation it is today. Listening back now, it’s fascinating how many of the things we discussed then are starting to become widely talked about in 2026.

Ahead of tomorrow’s brand new episode with Andy Ramage, I wanted to re release our original conversation because so much of it still feels incredibly relevant.

In this episode, Andy and I talk about alcohol, stress, identity, social conditioning and the uncomfortable reality that many of us spend years normalising habits that quietly impact our energy, confidence, relationships, focus and mental health.

At the time of recording, I was at the very beginning of my own alcohol free journey, still questioning my relationship with drinking and trying to understand why something so socially accepted could also leave so many people feeling anxious, depleted and disconnected from themselves.

We talk about the culture surrounding alcohol, the pressure many people feel to drink in social and business environments, and the growing evidence linking alcohol to anxiety, poor sleep, depression and even cancer, despite how normalised drinking has become in modern society.

Andy also opens up about his own transformation from burnt out City broker to becoming one of the leading voices in the alcohol free movement, after realising many of the people he once viewed as “successful” were privately exhausted, unhealthy and unhappy behind closed doors.

What makes this conversation even more interesting listening back now is hearing some of my own thoughts and beliefs at the very start of this journey, especially knowing how much my perspective has evolved since recording it.

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Key moments include:

✔ Why alcohol became embedded into almost every part of modern life

✔ The hidden pressure people feel to drink in social and professional settings

✔ The growing links between alcohol, anxiety, poor sleep and chronic illness

✔ Why so many successful people are privately struggling despite outward appearances

✔ Andy’s journey from professional footballer to City broker to one of the biggest voices in the alcohol free movement

✔ Why many people never realise how much alcohol is impacting them until they remove it

✔ The cultural blind spots around alcohol that most of us never question

✔ My own honest reflections from the very start of my alcohol free journey

✔ Why younger generations are beginning to rethink drinking culture altogether

✔ The mindset shift that changes alcohol from something you’re “giving up” into something you no longer want

This isn’t a preachy anti alcohol conversation. It’s an honest discussion about awareness, health, mindset and questioning behaviours many of us have accepted for years without ever really stopping to think about them.

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Connect & Follow

Follow Ellie McKay:

🔗 Website: https://onamissionpodcast.com

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Follow Andy Ramage:

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Maajid Nawaz was radicalised as a teenager and built his life around an extremist ideology that led to his arrest in Egypt, prison, and torture, before walking away from it and rethinking everything he once believed.

Years later, after becoming a well-known voice in counter extremism, he lost his role as a presenter on LBC during Covid, publicly labelled and ridiculed for his views.

This conversation lands at a time when the Home Office has apologised for what’s being described as one of the darkest periods in British history around the grooming gang scandal, and that’s where things open up.

We get into what actually happened, the cover ups, the corruption, the scale of what was allowed to go on, and why so many people were ignored or shut down for speaking about it, along with his take on who benefits when something like that is kept quiet for so long.

From there it builds into the bigger picture, power, influence, how decisions are made behind the scenes, from public narratives to government contracts, and what starts to come into view once you begin connecting the dots.

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Key moments include:

✔ 00:00 Being drawn into extremism at a young age and how that path took hold.

✔ 09:00 Arrest in Egypt, time in prison, and the reality of torture and its impact.

✔ 22:00 Grooming gang scandal, the Home Office apology, and what was happening while it was being covered up.

✔ 36:00 Why people who spoke out were shut down and what that says about the system.

✔ 48:00 Covid, losing his role at LBC, being labelled publicly, and the personal fallout of that.

✔ 1:05:00 Power and influence, how decisions are shaped behind the scenes, and what drives them.

✔ 1:18:00 Government contracts, incentives, and what sits underneath public facing decisions.

✔ 1:30:00 Where this leaves people now and why more are starting to question what’s really going.

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Connect & Follow

Follow Ellie McKay:

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