George Jones and David Millward (Extracted from "Blair in retreat over ban on drinking", Daily Telegraph, 31 October

"The Government was in full retreat last night over a proposal to ban drinking on all forms of public transport as part of new campaign against anti-social behaviour.

After senior ministers distanced themselves from the idea, train operators said it was unworkable and Opposition politicians said the Government was "obsessed" with banning things, Downing Street made clear that there were no plans for a "blanket ban" on alcohol on trains and buses."

[Ed Of course it was ridiculous! It would have needed millions of extra policemen. Blair seems to think that there's some sort of moral rot settling into the country of its own accord and that it's his job to fight it manfully as a personal crusade. That's why he keeps on coming out with silly ideas. What he should realise is that an economic crisis is taking place in all developed countries and this demoralises everybody -- young yobboes without much of a satisfying future as well as politicians. As the consumer product line becomes satiated, the economic growth of the last century in which everybody floated upwards is no longer occurring and a widening jobs and income divide is now taking place. This is the real problem that politicians and economists should be thinking about.]