Warm beer !

We are becoming a more dangerous society ! This week a man died simply because he was watering his lawn - and he was doing it legally, within the time frame and on the correct day stipulated by the water restrictions legislation.

A passing stranger accused him of wasting water. Words were exchanged and finally he hosed his accuser. That led to punches - and the householder was knocked to the ground and kicked. He died of a massive heart attack and could not be revived.

Street assaults are increasing in severity and pubs and nightclubs are dangerous places to be in the wee small hours of the morning. Aggression is fuelled by alcohol, but increasingly drugs are also a factor in the unprovoked assaults.

What alarms police is the frequency of victims being " glassed " - stabbed with a broken beer glass or beer bottle. The damage is horrendous - and in recent times this seems to be becoming the chosen weapon of street thugs and bar brawlers.

The suggestion has been raised that glass be phased out in favour of plastic beer glasses. The idea will be greeted with horror by drinkers because plastic fails to hold the chill of glass - and nothing offends the palate of Australian drinkers more than the thought of a warm beer !

At this stage the idea is only a suggestion, but it seems the market is moving that way. The German Oktoberfest has already moved to plastic beer steins following a " glassing " last year, beer at the cricket is only sold in low alcohol grade - and in plastic in recent years - and many private wedding and birthday functions have adopted the practice.

The most likely immediate outcome is for late night venues to change from glass to plastic from midnight and pubs that have a history of brawling to adopt plastic as their beverage containers. It is almost certain that big crowd events such as rock concerts will abandon glass as a safety precaution.

Now all that is required is for some genius to invent a way for plastic to maintain the chill - and we will all live in a safer world !