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Like a Chinese puzzle, fiendish but beautiful in its simplicity. From Silicon.com we have:

Biometrics cut pub brawls by a quarter
A biometric scheme that scans drinkers’ thumbprints before they enter a pub has helped cut alcohol-related crime in the South Somerset town of Yeovil.

Then (via Jamie) we have this from the Register:

Beer fingerprints to go UK-wide
[Julia] Bradburn [principal licensing manager at South Somerset District Council] could not say if fingerprint security in Yeovil had displaced crime to neighbouring towns, but she noted that domestic violence had risen in Yeovil.

There’s the rub. Out of sight out of mind. Just what a violent man would do with himself when turned away from the pub doesn’t seem to have occurred to anybody. Let’s put him under house arrest where he can contribute to his very own 7/7 (or two).

Chalk it up to the law of unintended consequences. Or, if you like, crude utilitarianism. Are fewer women killed by their partners each year than punters in pub fights?