Leading article: Last orders for last orders

5th Sep 2005, 16:34 GMT

Britain's puritans would have done well to go to bed early last night. For the rest of us, it might have been more a case of a swift half to celebrate the beginning of the end of absurdly restrictive licensing laws in England and Wales. For yesterday was the deadline for restaurants, pubs and bars to apply to stay open beyond the stroke of 11pm and into the small hours.