"We have no wine here," wrote William Shakespeare in Coriolanus.

Well we have plenty in Edinburgh. At the last count the city has 731 public house licenses. The vast majority of these establishments are well run, and provide a real service to residents whether they be folk out for a quiet drink, folk out celebrating, students out having a good time or tourists visiting our beautiful city.

The licensed trade is big business, and it is the job of the Licensing Board to ensure that a good balance is struck between the needs of the trade and the needs of the individual to enjoy the privacy of their own home and indeed their own garden. The new City of Edinburgh Statement of Licensing Policy which was approved at last week's board meeting is a requirement under the new Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. The Act states that each Licensing Authority in Scotland must produce its own policy, so creating a number of differing policies throughout Scotland peculiar to individual areas and to a certain extent traditions.

Among controls on loud music and cash machine locations, new regulations in Edinburgh state that landlords are now responsible for the behaviour of their customers outside of the establishment. What remains constant are the five licensing objectives: preventing crime and disorder, securing public safety, preventing public nuisance, protecting and improving public health and protecting children from harm.

From a student's point of view, perhaps, the new innovation of licensing an external area as well as requiring a permit for tables and chairs may be one which causes some concern. This was introduced to ensure that, particularly in residential areas, peoples lives are not blighted by some of the problems which arise directly from the abuse of alcohol. This is an attempt to encourage the so called "café culture" but not at the expense of citizens rights.

Responsible drinking means exactly that. It means remembering that others have rights as well. With the advent of cheap flights we have all enjoyed sitting watching the world go by while enjoying a drink in some café in one of the great foreign capitals in Europe. How often have we seen locals falling about out of their minds with drink? Not too often I would wager.

Contrast that with the behaviour of some of our own citizens who seem unable to drink in a civilised manner, and who cause police, taxi drivers, bus drivers, cleansing officials and even hospital staff all kinds of bother in the wee small hours. That is the down side of binge drinking. So we have to try and change the culture, and encourage people to drink sensibly.

Another area causing concern is the ignorance of safe daily amouts of alcohol, and indeed the strength of many of the drinks available. My own worry is the large measures of wine being consumed, particularly by young women. So we want to see better signage of quantities and strengths of alcohol in licensed premises.

The new policy sets out with the five objectives laid down in the Act, and they are linked to every aspect of what we are trying to achieve. We are not trying to create a nanny state. If you are old enough to drink you are old enough to take responsibility for your own affairs.

Student days are some of the best days of your life. We want you to enjoy them, to enjoy our pubs, to enjoy our night life. Edinburgh has so much to offer, and so many memories for you to take home with you, lets just make sure they are happy memories .