Quite one of the best things in the Morning Advertiser this past year has been our legal columnist Peter Coulson's forensic dissection of the ludicrous claims for a simpler new licensing system made by the Department of Culture, Media & Sport.
Peter has consistently exposed the simplistic naiveties pedalled by DCMS as it's tried to cover up the yawning cracks in the procedures for converting from a tried and tested system to a creation dreamt up by the civil service.
He's also pointed out, well in advance, all the pitfalls that lie ahead for licensees who are simply trying to apply for their new licences. Claims by DCMS of cost savings and less bureaucracy for the trade have been mocked out of court by our legal man.
The local authorities themselves have, no doubt, been reading Peter's stuff, and have picked up on the logistical problems they face in coping with the transition. They, too, are baffled by the DCMS sense of time and its general optimism that in classic British style, somehow the licensed trade and its new masters will just muddle through.
Westminster Council is the latest to pour scorn on the Government's approach to new licensing. It claims that licensees will now have to fill in more than 200 pieces of paper to apply for its licences. Shortfalls in funding the system are Westminster's main concern, and it points out that this will create under-staffed and over-worked officials and councillors, which is likely to make transition a nightmare for many licensees.
DCMS officials have tried to help local authorities by edging up the new fees, which were finally announced for consultation last week. Although broadly what was promised for personal licences, the premises licence could be a couple of hundred pounds higher than promised and any further changes during the year attract further fees. Throw in the further £200 cost of advertising any proposed variations in the local paper, and it's clear this system will most likely cost licensees, on average, around £500 a year more.
That extra hour at the weekend is going to have to be worked pretty hard.