Recently in under-age drinking Category

So the powers that be want the world to ban ads for alcohol in an attempt to combat the curse of binge-drinking and meanwhile Brussels wants food labels on everything from cans of fizzy drinks to cream to have a minimum 3 mm print size - meaning that some ingredient labels would be bigger than the actual product.

While you may feel this is bureaucracy going mad and at least half way down the slippery nanny state slope kitchen rat also noticed in the Metro news today the chap who had to go on a diet after his weight rocketed to 24 stone. He miraculously lost 8 and a half stone when he stopped drinking his favourite tipple Coke.

It turns out the man had been downing around 30 cans a day to fuel his habit - with common sense like this, perhaps we do need a nanny state. 

It reminds us of the woman who, in the midst of the ITV telephone rigging scam, said she had called the phone lines hundreds of times and now felt like an idiot as she'd been duped - only now gov?   

The recent National Licensed Business Show gave licensees of all kinds of tips and hints on sticking to the Licensing Act (2003).
The key concern among the publicans was how to deal with test purchases and how they could train their staff to recognise under-18s. Nobody wants to break the law and be fined and many revealed they were at great pains to avoid serving those under age.

As delegates spilled out of the key-note session and onto the show floor, directly opposite was a stand giving away free samples of real ale.

In a touch of irony that would have made Alanis Morrisette choke on her herbal tea, the stand was rather popular with visitors attending the neighbouring Leisure Industry show - most notably local students who ticked most of the boxes marked “scally” or “chav”.

They were all knocking the free samples of beer back without the hint of an ID or age check. Just goes to show that it is not always the supermarkets that are to blame.