those two replies say exactly what i was going to say, so i won't reiterate too much. However my experience of city centre drinking in scotland (edinburgh has great licensing hours) are exactly that of the chap/ess in australia- that because there is no immediate focus of people onto the streets, problems don't seem to occur. I've drunk in central edinbugh and glasgow for four years and never ever seen anything close to the kind of violence- or the kind of blootered drunks- that we keep being shown on the telly this week, as prophecy of the end of england! could it be that for once the politicians have done their homework and realised that extended licensing isn't the end of the world?(unless of course an eternity of 11pm closings have damaged the english pub psyche so much that everyone wil be staying on till 3am and that'll just shift the fight's later?) however, you have my sympathies for the next few weeks where people 'enjoy' their new freedoms. sympathies indeed. keep up the good work.