Washington’s latest error is the pressure it has been applying on the negotiators of a new Iraqi constitution to keep to a timetable which has more to do with US opinion polls than their own country’s needs. After more than three decades of tyranny, three devastating wars and years of sanctions and international isolation, the delegates had to address fundamental questions of power-sharing, civil rights, the role of Islam and the division of oil revenues. If America is ever to devise a coherent strategy to withdraw from a reasonably peaceful and stable Iraq, it has first to stop making mistakes there. Yet, in its haste to appear to be making progress, it keeps blundering further into a quagmire of its own creation, making it ever more difficult to discern the path to safety. There is little that the Government can or should do, apart from putting more pressure on the drinks industry to move away from a business model based on vertical drinking barns in which consumption is boosted by happy-hour promotions.The scare campaign by sections of the press that has been taken up late in the day by David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, offers no constructive measures for tackling the underlying problem – it seeks only to obstruct sensible, liberal and long-overdue reform.. In Scotland, another nation with an alcoholic reputation, extended drinking hours do not seem to have made problem drinking worse.

Relaxing the First World War curfew on alcohol in public places after 11pm in England and Wales – misleadingly described as “24-hour drinking” – would have two clear benefits.

One, it would allow responsible adults more choice over when and where to drink. Two, it would make it easier for the police to manage the fight’n'puke rush hour that hits so many city, town and village centres at 11pm. That may not solve the problem of why so many young people are so eager to seek temporary and repeated oblivion, but that may be largely beyond the reach of liberal democratic governments. She makes several points that deserve wider currency: the English have had a disordered relationship with alcohol since at least Chaucer’s time; the present licensing regime has not been notably successful in curbing binge drinking; the press campaign against the law (which comes into effect at the end of November) began after it was passed with cross-party support two years ago; and the belated Conservative opposition to it is opportunist and hypocritical. Her central argument is this: the culture among young people of drinking to get drunk has deep and complex causes – and flexible licensing hours are unlikely to have any effect on it The evidence supports her. Level-headedness has, we like to think, always been the hallmark of these columns.

While the eyes of the emotionally volatile bulge at some small incident, and their vocal chords squeeze out notes of strangulated hysteria, we pick our placid way through the nation’s trials and triumphs. Thus we urge that the correct, sensible and intellectually sound reaction to the England cricket team’s performance against Australia to be: a moment of thoughtful reflection – followed by loud, prolonged and, if you feel so inclined (and we think you should), hysterically self-satisfied laughter.. Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, is right in her lively defence of the new law to allow flexible drinking hours. Fewer people are now watching traditional terrestrial broadcasters.

The new service will offer the past seven days of programmes, plus some extra material.Mr Thompson signalled that the corporation would also provide facilities such as music downloading, a move which will cause controversy among rival broadcasters. They accuse the BBC of going beyond its “public service remit” by providing commercial services.. However, that is not our plan,” he said.The launch of MyBBCPlayer will be seen as an attempt to support the renewal of the BBC’s £2bn-a-year licence fee. The new service, named MyBBCPlayer, is expected to transform the corporation and the way we watch its output.
In a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Mr Thompson said that the BBC, which is negotiating with the Government to renew its licence for the next decade, must respond to advances in technology that allow viewers to watch television programmes “on demand” through broadband or mobile phone links.”I accept the premise that if the BBC remains nothing more than a traditional TV and radio broadcaster then we probably won’t deserve or get licence-fee funding beyond 2016 … We need quality journalists, and these will only be produced from quality courses, not contrived courses offered only to meet recruitment and revenue targets.Peter Cole is professor of journalism at the University of Sheffield. The BBC is to launch an internet channel allowing viewers to catch up on the past seven days of BBC television and radio programming, its director general, Mark Thompson, said last night. They have had access to the work experience opportunities gained by mum or dad having a word with so-and-so.

They have been able to write while still at school the piece in the national paper about bullying/drugs/under-age sex/binge-drinking/anorexia/intimate jewellery. Such experience is influential in getting a place on the best courses, then a job.I worry about journalism becoming the preserve of the affluent middle classes, because they have the connections, they have the confidence and they are less intimidated by student debt. Top-up fees, despite the bursaries, will frighten those from poorer backgrounds. Those who take on the debt will be less willing to take on unpaid work (or internship) after graduation in the hope it might lead to a job. Those who accept or prefer life in regional journalism must come to terms with much lower pay than the starter teacher, police officer or nurse, despite student debt of more than £20,000.As well as being enjoyable, journalism is tremendously demanding, requires great intelligence as well as tenacity, scepticism and originality, and is important, as those who exercise power over us get better and better at media manipulation. These people have grown up immersed in the trade and meeting the people. How frequently I see familiar national names on application forms.