As an update to the previous drinking post after having seen the BBC programme, their point does seem to be strongly provicial-towns-focused. Even so, it’s still a *very* tenuous one.

Their evidence from a Saturday night out in a large provincial town was:

* One poor guy who was badly beaten up by thugs with pool cues, in a local pub at 8PM. Rubbish, and lock them up forever, but not very relevant.

* Lots of drunken students doing silly things with roadwork signs. And we’re supposed to care about this why?

* A few daft girls passing out after eight pints, being well looked-after and taken to hospital.

* A couple of drunken fights between consenting fighters, in which no-one was very badly hurt.

Overall, the impression was one of daft puritans, lazy policemen who resented having to work late to deal with clubbers (never mind that we pay £20 billion in drinks tax to pay their wages…), lots of people having fun, and journalists desperate to spin a story together.