Last thing we need is 24hr quick fix

The technical problems of the new law that I have outlined above have been swamped by the 24-hour opening/binge drinking furore, to which the Government appears to have responded rather typically ­ a quick-fix reaction.

But while this consultation paper, Drinking Responsibly, appears on the face of it to seek a change in attitude among young drinkers, what it proposes as a first step is yet another saturation bombing operation on the licensed trade ­ and one of dubious legality at that.

It is a great pity that politically it cannot wait to see whether the potential changes in licensing times will themselves help to reduce the problems that have been so brashly highlighted.

An interesting exercise which Roy Light, professor of law at the University of the West of England, suggested at a seminar some years back, is to turn the statistics round. For example, the consultation document begins with a whole bunch of alcohol-related statistics, including "One in five violent incidents take place around pubs or clubs".

This actually means that 80% of violent incidents do not. Also, an amazing 54% of violent crime is not fuelled by alcohol.

One of the main aims of the new licensing laws was to get rid of the flashpoints after 11pm and 2am, when the pubs and clubs turn out at the same time and when, as the police statistics universally show, the main bulk of the incidents occur.

I have not been made aware of the definition of "violent crime" or "violent incidents" but I should imagine that street fights and quarrels at these high-stress times form the main bulk of the statistics. It was to engineer a more leisurely dispersal from late-night venues and thereby avoid large-scale confrontation that the Government proposed the abolition of fixed, permitted hours. It never proposed 24-hour drinking, and prior to the latest campaigns, no-one in their right minds ever suggested it as either desirable or feasible.

It is only John Humphrys and the Daily Mail who seem hung-up on the concept and who persistently refuse to listen to reason or to read the licensedtrade data, which shows a virtually universal aversion to round-the-clock trading.

I might point out that among the few places which for many years had virtually 24-hour drinking were the press clubs in London and Manchester. So it's alright for journalists, but not for the plebs eh, John?