Minister needs to name the day

I am heartened by the news that the new minister for licensing James Purnell sees no need to postpone the Second Appointed Day. Of course not. The only problem is we have not yet been told when the Second Appointed Day is.

If there was a hint that it might be 7 November 2005, that would give us a clue. We could rush off to our DCMS Olympic Games Diaries and pencil it in without delay. We could call it "Caborn-again Day".

So it might be appropriate if one of the first official functions of the new minister would be to unveil the absolute and immovable Second Appointed Day, so the whole process could be assured. After all, it is only five months hence, which for most people involved in as complex a transition as this, would be short notice.

But wait! What do I recall from the very recent past? The stern voice of the Security Industry Authority (SIA), telling us all that no doorman could possibly work without a valid, current licence beyond the times which they in their wisdom had set as the final, ultimate, irrevocable day for the national licensing system to take effect.

Press releases have been arriving on my desktop for some time suggesting that although it is entirely the fault of the doorstaff and, in particular, the licensed trade that the timescales have not been met, at the very last moment the SIA is prepared to allow a concessionary period so that everyone can catch up.

I also remember, which will not be well received at Cockspur Street, that the very same people who are running the licensing transition are those who presided over not one, but two years of absolute chaos over New Year's Eve. They managed to antagonise the House of Lords to such an extent that the all-night concession only made it under the wire with about a week to spare. In a way, that fiasco paved the way for the current attitude that none of the rest of us matter any more, as long as something gets done in time.

So do not hold your breath about the time when the announcement will be made. And don't be surprised that, with about 150,000 licences still leftto process, the almost-biblical Second Appointed Day is not postponed, but a three-month concessionary period is allowed for local authorities to cope with the backlog.

Catch-up politics, I call it.