Britain may no longer have the greatest cricketers, footballers or even administrators but there is one area in which this country is still unsurpassed.

No other nation can match our drunken yobs when they are turned out of pubs every night soon after 11.

Other countries may consume more booze, such as the French and the Spanish but they generally do so in a more civilised fashion.

One of the main reasons for that is more relaxed licensing laws, which encourage people to drink more slowly and not down as many pints as they can before closing time.

Now it looks as if Tony Blair will fulfil a long-standing pledge to liberalise licensing laws and allow some pubs to open all the time.

This could be good news for resorts such as Brighton and Hove, which already like to think of themselves as 24-hour-day cities.

But there would have to be strong safeguards so neighbours of these pubs were not disturbed in the early hours.

Brighton and Hove City Council and the police have generally worked out a code of conduct with clubs and nightspots which works well.

This will have to be applied to pubs if licensing restrictions are to be relaxed.