Singapore's back to bar-top dancing

KEEN to promote a more entrepreneurial spirit in its risk-averse citizens, the Singapore authorities have lifted one of the country's strangest bans: a law that kept drinkers from dancing on bar tops.

The regulation was dropped from midnight last night and bars around the city state celebrated by throwing parties in the early hours today, taking their eager bands of dancers to new heights.

The official line has been that the quirky measure was in place to prevent people from injuring themselves, although one government minister said the regulation prevented fights from breaking out as men ogled women's legs.

The change of heart appears to have come about due to the government's new mantra that Singapore's placid citizens must become more creative and willing to embrace risk in the fast-changing 21st century. Bar-dancing is considered to be an outward expression of a more freewheeling business spirit.

The ban was held up as the kind of rule that needed to be consigned to the dustbin if Singapore was to remain prosperous. 'If we want our people to make more decisions for themselves, and if we are to encourage a derring-do society, we must allow some risk-taking, and a little excitement. It is a bit like my allowing bar-top dancing,' Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said last month.