The Roundheads are in charge

First they came for the smokers. Then they gave fatties a bit of a roasting. And now this:

"Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said he wanted to change the view it was "acceptable to drink to get drunk".

As well as binge-drinkers, it will also target older people who drink at home."

This is because they have no concept of the distinction between self-regarding actions and those that harm others. More specifically, this has something to do with the apparent view of this government that your liver is in someway public property.

You'll notice the typical NuLabour formulation: having failed to enforce the laws that already exist against anti-social drunken behaviour, the target becomes more ambitious and seeks to change our views. Bit late in my case - mine having been formed by a) excessive drinking b) reading JS Mill who said:

"No person ought to be punished simply for being drunk; but a soldier or a policeman should be punished for being drunk on duty. Whenever, in short, there is a definite damage, either to an individual or to the public, the case is taken out of the province of liberty, and placed in that of morality or law."

Vernon Coaker, you'll remember, is the minister who confessed to smoking marijuana but got a pass because he insisted he didn't enjoy it.

Is it just me or are our lives increasingly governed by people terrified at the prospect of us having fun?