Far better to have a personal rule not to send emails of a sensitive nature for 24 hours! Just don't do it. :). It's the immediate gut level response that causes problems. You don't have to be drunk. Write the letter in word and sit on it for 24 hours.

Mary Scullion, Sydney, Australia

An interesting idea but surely drunken text messages are far, far more common? If they designed something similar for phones I think it would be a big hit. Maybe an app for the Iphone?

Jamie Pilditch, Cambridge, UK

If I was sober and sending emails in the evening I would find this so annoying! I think it is a terrible idea. People should be more responsible anyway.

Alice, Bristol, England

Not a big drinker then Bill from Canada? Or just feeling very superior today? Try drinking a couple of bottles of wine at dinner and then figuring out the tip... not easy my freind.

Equally, try doing your 12 times table after 10 pints- I bet you couldn't count by then, let alone do maths.

Tom, Cardiff,

i think this idea is... awesome... haha....actually i think that if after a certain time of night, it could just stick the message in the outbox, and in the morning if you really meant to send it, then by all means, send it. if not, delete it and be about your way.

amberly, hyden,

I think its a cool idea, I'm sure there will be a way to turn it off, and its a bit of fun, and I think perhaps the notion of being prompted with the screen may make people think OH YES sobreity test... should I be doing this?
This article made for welcome light reading into today's Times.

Josh, Pimlico, UK

I would probably fail the numeracy test whether I was drunk or sober - should be a choice of literacy or numeracy and a limit on the no. of email addresses you are sending to!

J Key, Southampton,

I think the best solution would be for gmail to delay the sending of an email by approx 8 hours if sent after midnight. If the mail was legit, then it will be sent anyway. However if it was a drunken message, then the user could log in fully sober and delete it before it left the mailbox.

David, Dublin,

Having math questions is just a waste of time. Many university students stay up late or wake up early to do homework. Some even pull all-nighters. When they do, they don't want to be answering stupid math questions when they're dying for sleep. It will just be a pain. I

s, toronto, canada

It is hard to imagine anyone too drunk to do math... Anyone who thinks that is a test for sobriety obviously did not attend university.

Bill, Stoney Creek, Ontario

Hey and if we were all sober, we might be able to see the government and the opposition selling us down the river for the next half-century, without a proper debate, taking us into ruinously expensive wars and all those other things that seem to pass us by....

Hugh Reid, Glasgow, UK

Give up the sauce? Nonsense! Julian, don't you ever read your King James' Bible? It's in the blood...

"On the day after his rest, God skipped work and went to the Royal Oak, got plastered on cheap bitter, tried it on with the barmaid and made Britain."

JJ, Tunbridge Wells, UK

ever wondered if would need such a thing if us Brits could try and stay off the sauce for a week or two?

Julian, Bath, UK