The new Dr Babic was in subdued form as he read out a rambling five-point statement to journalists late on Thursday in a

The new Dr Babic was in subdued form as he read out a rambling five-point statement to journalists late on Thursday in a forlorn hope of averting the crushing offensive that yesterday descended on the credulous inhabitants of his fiefdom far away near the Croatian littoral.
The great question in Belgrade yesterday was, would Serbia stay out of the war? Even before the Croatian offensive began the answer seemed evident to a people well attuned to the signals emanating from the top. BELGRADE – For all the talk of blood brotherhood and all the mystical pledges of Serbian unity, Milan Babic, self-styled “Prime Minister” of the Krajina Serbs, looked a tired and lonely man as he skulked in a dingy office in Belgrade. Gone was the Luger pistol that a visitor once saw arrogantly twirled around a forefinger trained only to clasp a dentist’s drill – yes, Dr Babic was a local dentist before he became a Communist, and an apparatchik before he turned rabid nationalist. It is time the Government called “time” on our archaic licensing regime.The writer is director of research and policy at the Consumers’ Association..

Extraordinarily, the Government allows this elementary barrier to those wishing to enter the market to persist, when so many other restrictions – in areas ranging from bus services to the supply of spectacles – have been swept away.Public opinion is clearly a long way ahead of the Government’s own willingness to straighten out an antiquated, inconsistent and anti-competitive system. But the Government has no plans to review the regime.Tinkering with one obvious anomaly, though welcome, is no substitute for the evident need to review the whole basis of the licensing system, including the concept of “economic need”. As a result families in Bath can now choose from 10 pubs that have a certificate.Next week’s Consumer Policy Review, published by the Consumers’ Association, cites a delightfully disingenuous Home Office acknowledgement that some licensing committees are setting “what [appear] to be demanding conditions”. Bath magistrates, for instance, have more respect for the discretion of parents. Equally tough conditions can be imposed by magistrates in England and Wales, including the installation of special low-level children’s sinks and toilets, the covering of electric sockets, and a ban on happy hours. Conditions on restaurants and hotels, where families already go, are seldom so tough.By contrast, some licensing boards appear to impose no formal conditions at all. The White Hart had no such problems, because the pub fell under the jurisdiction of a different licensing committee.Variations in Scotland are even worse than in England and Wales.

Only 2 per cent of Edinburgh pubs can welcome children, compared with 39 per cent in Dundee, perhaps not unconnected with the fact that Edinburgh pubs must meet 14 conditions to win a certificate, including thermostatically controlled tap water at 39C. Despite this, the Furze Bush was refused a children’s certificate for the bar area leading directly on to the garden. The Furze Bush last year served more than 5,000 children’s meals, and local families know they can enjoy a drink with their children safe in the garden play area. In another, conditions may be minimal.Here’s an illustration. Two pubs – the Furze Bush and the White Hart – lie within the Hampshire border. The question of who can serve alcohol, where, and whether a licensee can serve drink on or off the premises, lies wholly within the magistrates’ gift.