Good Friday shows up our ambivalent attitude to alcohol

A PROBLEM that will occupy the minds of a lot of people in this country today is not the state of the peace process in Northern Ireland, nor the future of Iraq.

What will be uppermost in their minds is where they might "get in". Getting in, in this case, means getting into a pub, because the day that's in it represents about the last challenge to savour a pint in the smug knowledge that it is forbidden.

A certain amount of research will have been done in seeking out an oasis that will be susceptible to a knock on the side door, but the day is fraught with uncertainty.