Walking through Gatwick airport recently, it was heartening to see so many bleary-eyed travellers enjoying a pre-flight drink in the terminal’s Wetherspoons. Few organisations can be said to have done more for the nation’s morale, or more specifically to ease the pain of those with a long journey ahead, than Spoons.

That jolly scene, played out in airports across the country, is now under threat from Michael O’Leary. Due to the increase in disruptive passengers, the Ryanair chief executive, who loves to play the stage baddie, wants to ban airport pubs and bars serving drinks in the early morning and to restrict all sales to a two-drink maximum. ‘I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?’ he is quoted as saying.

Why seek to punish those capable of enjoying a bracing pre-noon drink who can also then get onto a plane in a civilised manner?

If it is no longer possible to buy a pint before 10.30 a.m., we need to find a better – and perhaps more socially acceptable – morning drink. I have written here before about the magnificence of a Corpse Reviver No 2 for strengthening the soul early in the day, and The Spectator’s drinks editor, Jonathan Ray, recently revealed he favours a glass of ice-cold fino sherry. But there are other options.

There is a bottle of Leffe, which a Dundonian priest friend of mine used to describe as his ideal ‘breakfast beer’, possibly because of its abbey heritage. That clearly won’t pass the O’Leary test and it doesn’t pack the short, sharp punch needed in the time before midday. There is the Bloody Mary, which provides the perfect start to a Sunday in many households. We need a campaign to ensure whoever the mysterious Big Tom is receives an OBE for services to mixing one more quickly and easily than ever before.

There is always champagne, decent at any point in the day. If you want a swift sparkle, however, I would opt for a Mimosa, with lots of ice and a slice of orange. Mix freshly squeezed orange juice, very dry Prosecco, a generous dash of Grand Marnier and a touch of soda water. It goes incredibly well with a defrosted cheese and onion pasty, made following Olivia Potts’s recent Spectator recipe. While originally intended for mourning rather than morning, the Black Velvet is said to have been created at Brooks’s Club to mark Prince Albert’s death. Mixing equal parts champagne and Guinness, it is perfectly fine in a flute but is also a good excuse to use an under-appreciated tankard. In a not dissimilar vein, medicinal qualities might be found in a Bull Shot. As it is a mixture of vodka and beef consommé with hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, a squeeze of lemon and a dash of salt and pepper, this might be better suited to a winter rather than a summer getaway.

If all this sounds too complicated you could always get some tips from the film Cabaret. The heroine, Sally Bowles, enjoys a prairie oyster, combining an egg yolk with Worcestershire and hot sauce, along with added salt and pepper. A dash of gin or vodka is optional. Downing it in one swig is a bit like throwing back an oyster.

This is the way to strike a blow against O’Leary’s puritanical world. Why seek to punish those capable of enjoying a bracing pre-noon drink who can also then get onto a plane in a civilised manner?

To borrow from Denis Thatcher you could think of these suggestions as openers, brighteners, snifters or even snortorinos. Life is a cabaret, old chum, and that’s worth remembering when you’re off on holiday.