Last night, I published this piece about Sacha Lord’s legal case to allow hospitality to open indoors – that’s bars, restaurants and so on – earlier than the May 17th date currently planned for England. I almost scheduled it for later in the week, but a last minute decision got me scheduling it for last night.

Perhaps it’s just as well, because this morning, the courts announced that the government had won the legal battle. They declared that a judicial review of the government’s decision would be pointless because it wouldn’t start before May 17th – at which point they’d be open again anyway.

Frankly, the way this whole case has been conducted is shambolic. The government appeared to deliberately drag their feet over this issue, providing the absolute bare minimum of evidence asked for by the court – and agreeing to drop things like the 10pm curfew with seemingly little to no defence.

I intend to come back to this one when I’ve got more time. I just hope that the Night Time Industries Association – who are currently suing the government of Scotland over something pretty similar – are paying close attention…