I see that the Tories failed in their attempt to get the 24-hour drinking act kicked out, and I realise that it probably has a much more boring name than “the 24-hour drinking act”.

What is up with the Tories these days? Aren’t they always talking about being the party of individual freedoms and choice? Aren’t they always complaining about the so-called nanny state and saying that the market should dictate everything? I would have thought that removing restrictions on licencing would be the sort of thing they would approve of.

The main plank of their argument seems to be that it is police advice that longer opening hours will lead to more trouble. Only last week the police advised that they needed 90 to detain suspects without trial but every single Tory in the House (except for Tapsell) decided to totally ignore that advice while again voting against something which is, or should be, more in line with their policies than ours.

They are interpreting the role of the opposition as being to oppose anything they might agree with if they think they have a chance of winning the vote. As such their priorities are purely around whether they win a vote in Parliament, with no thought about what any implications might be outside. I shouldn’t complain though: their blatant bandwagon-jumping did manage to prevent a very bad piece of legislation last week.

Maybe its just something being in Westminster does to you, and our lot are just as bad, but I would like to think we are better than that.

I would have a bit more respect for the Tory MPs if I thought that the bars in Parliament all closed up at 11:00pm on the dot, but I suspect that is not the case. I suspect that they can justify later hours there by saying they need a drink after a late sitting, while denying shift workers the same luxury.

I can’t get really worked up about the whole thing though. I hardly ever drink myself – typically one pint twice a month when I go to the Labour Club for a meeting – but just sometimes I fancy a quick pint after going to a show and find everywhere closing as I come out. I don’t want to binge-drink, but sometimes fancy having one of my pints at midnight instead of 7pm.