""It could of course give time for a campaign against the daft parts of the bill to build up, but I doubt if that will happen.""

It's happening already. Not only "38 Degrees", but "Avaast too", along with a host of charities and other non commercial organisations.

Could you ever have imagined the League Against Cruel Sports standing shoulder to shoulder with the Countryside Alliance? Well, they ARE!

The last petition by 38 Degrees raised 100,000 signatures, 80,000 of them in one day.

For the first time, voters are able to drive home their views and point out when MPs risk haemorrhaging votes, and it has all parties scared shitless. They aren't used to paying more than lip service to accountability.

This is what killed the Forestry sell off and a number of other initiatives, and they'll do anything to muzzle it, but the pressure is being kept up and that six weeks won't change anything in their favour.

If only we'd had that sort of clout, back in 2000 Richard, there would have been an entirely different Licensing Act 2003.

Now we have it, and I'm having a whale of a time.

Don T.