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The Christian festival of Easter will be gone under Stormont reforms of the licencing laws, church leaders have warned. Presbyterian and Methodist leaders also warned of a tsunami of addiction issues in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis. And they have urged MLAs to include legal protections for staff who do not want to have to work at Easter. Methodist minister David Clements warned of a tsunami of harm coming from alcohol abuse. We do not know what the outcome will be in a year s time, post-Covid. Although much less alcohol has been consumed in restaurants, pubs and so on, my gut feeling is that the amount of alcohol consumed in homes has increased significantly. Who is to tell what health impact that will have in a year s time or five years time? he asked. ....
The answer to helping children catch up with school according to readers THERE is no one-size-fits-all approach to help thousands of children catch up with school work missed due to the pandemic, but The Northern Echo readers have spoken out about what they want to see. Earlier this month, schools standards minister Nick Gibb said he is “open to all ideas” on how to help pupils catch up with schoolwork missed due to the pandemic, so we asked for your ideas. Mr Gibb told the Commons’ education select committee: “We just have to leave no stone unturned in making sure that we can help those young people catch up from the lost education.” ....
BBC News By Stephen Walker Published image copyrightGetty Images Easter holidays could be overrun by alcohol misuse if licensing laws are changed, a clergyman has warned. Rev David Clements told MLAs Christmas had been overrun by alcohol and said it would be a shame if Easter followed suit. He was speaking to Stormont s communities committee, which is examining a licensing laws reform bill. It would remove Easter drinking restrictions and allow longer opening hours. Current restrictions are in place from the Thursday before Easter until Easter Sunday. Alcohol drinks can only be served between 17:00 and 23:00 on Good Friday and pubs have to stop serving at midnight on Thursday and Easter Saturday. ....