A pressure group has been launched in Denmark for people who don't like getting up early.

The group - the B Society - has already signed up thousands of Danes and now has its own website to promote its cause.

Several companies and even one school now offer midday starts for employees and pupils who find it hard to wake up in the early hours.

The B Society website asks: "Why are we still rising with the first cockerel crow or when the cows need milking when less than five per cent of people work in agriculture?

"We want to free ourselves from the tyranny of the A Society, and give rights to the B Society."

Many newspapers have taken up the debate and even the Danish Minister for Family Affairs Carina Christensen has shown sympathy for the cause.

She said: "We will all live a better life if our existence is not controlled by an alarm clock."

One high school in Copenhagen now offers classes for late risers while some firms allow employees to start at 10am instead of 8.30am like their colleagues.