One way in which we could be over-reacting it that we can see the damage this bill could do, but maybe there are positives we are ignoring. Picking up something McGrath said a few days back, there is no coffee-house culture of folk in the UK any more, and this is linked to the introduction of the 2-in-a-bar exemption in pubs. Is it at all feasible that having a standard licence everywhere could actually encourage the revival of non-pub folk in Starbucks/Costa et al?

(I think it most unlikely, but it does at least seem possible.)