WEARY souls hoping to gently wind down ahead of Parliament's Christmas holiday were out of luck this week, as hunters laid seige to the Commons and President Bush bounced Geoff Hoon down the road to Alaska.

Personally, this was a blow. I had promised myself there would be no more ranting about either hunting or Son of Star Wars in 2002 after tiring myself out over the past two Fridays.

But events have overtaken me. First of all we had the ridiculous scenario of MPs behaving like lunatics inside the Commons while men in flat caps and tweed jackets did the same outside.

MPs on both sides of the argument were pogo-ing up and down like punks at a Clash concert as they tried to get called by the Speaker to hurl insults at one another.

To give a flavour, Tony Banks accused the Tories of being neo-Nazis at one point. They all shouted "withdraw!", so the Speaker ordered him to do so. He told Mr Banks: "That term should not be used. I call on him to withdraw."

Mr Banks said: "I am being ordered to withdraw 'neo'..."

Outside, in freezing temperatures, pro-hunters were charging at police guarding the entrance to Parliament and burning Tony Blair dolls.

Eight arrests and six hours of expensive Parliamentary time later the Hunting Bill had completed its second reading. But we were no further on as it will be gutted by MPs at committee stage, and turned into an outright ban in any case.

And as for Mr Hoon... His announcement the US had finally asked to use RAF Fylingdales for missile defence was made two hours AFTER President Bush had said he was forging ahead with his pet project anyway.

The world's most powerful man intends to field 10 ground-based interceptor rockets at Fort Greeley, Alaska, by 2004 - and given they won't work without the use of Fylingdales, it is fair to assume Mr Hoon won't have to think too hard about the answer.

(More interesting will be the response of the Danish Government, whose Thule radar in Greenland is similarly vital. The Danes are not so slavishly loyal to the US and any debate in their Parliament may have some significance.)

Thank goodness, then, for Hugh Bayley. He made proper use of Parliamentary time by giving a plug to York Brewery in a standing committee on booze rules.

Some years ago, when a few big brewers were threatening to buy every pub in the land, a law was put in place ordering them to have at least one guest beer. The aim was to stop regional brewers who make small amounts of specialist beer from going to the wall. And it worked.

But, as the giant brewers have steadily sold off their pubs, it has become redundant.

Now guest beers are thriving because they are popular and customers demand them - not because pubs have to sell them.

As a result, Mr Bayley made a successful case for the old rule to be scrapped. But not before reminding MPs York Brewery had been been able to set up with some confidence as a result of the beer orders - returning a brewery to the city for the first time since the 1950s.

He also got on the record the fact that its Terrier ale was the most popular guest beer ever to appear in the Commons' Stranger's Bar.

Afterwards, a happy Mr Bayley remarked: "I did think it was a good chance to give the brewery a helping hand."

I couldn't agree more, particularly as it gives me the perfect opportunity to say cheers, and merry Christmas to all.

Parliament is now in recess. James Slack returns on January 10

Updated: 11:53 Friday, December 20, 2002