FOR better or for worse - and many fear it will be the latter - 24-hour drinking comes into effect in England and Wales from next week.

Some 70% of 81,000 pubs have applied to vary existing licences although ministers are quick to point out that most are interested only in staying open for an extra hour or two at weekends and only a small proportion have asked for 24-hour licences.

To be sure last night's Commons amendment by the Tories was part political opportunism so that if the problem of the drunken yobs in our town and city centres gets worse they can turn round and say they told Labour so.

On the other hand it was disingenuous of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell to say that voting against the Licensing Act was voting to deny police the powers they need to tackle binge drinking and anti-social behaviour.

This is a gamble. There are genuine concerns here.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has admitted it will take a long time to change Britain's binge drinking culture and he joined Ms Jowell yesterday in launching a £2.5m project to combat drunken behaviour.

In truth this country's obsession with getting rolling drunk goes back centuries. Some parts of our heritage we really could do without.

And that point is hammered home again, with Cancer Research UK warning that growing use of alcohol is one factor behind a steep rise in mouth cancer cases.

Cases have risen by a quarter in 10 years at a time when another major factor - smoking - is on the wane. The Department of Health is funding a three-year Open Up to Mouth Cancer campaign.

Once again we have to wonder if Government policy is being consistent.

Patchy service

THE Government's stance on health is not helped either by the assertion from the National Audit Office that the NHS is losing both hundreds of lives and millions of pounds by its treatment of stroke sufferers.

There is a rap on the knuckles for most doctors, hospitals and ambulance services for not treating the illness with enough urgency, while the rehabilitation service for victims is said to be "very, very patchy".

Nor can it be written off any more as just an old person's problem. A quarter of those affected are under 65.

In this, as in other areas of health, the Government badly needs to demonstrate a sharp improvement if it is to convince us that the health service is safe in its hands.