On the restrictions, they aren't as non-sensical if you think about it.
A children's birthday party of 30 people - even outside - is likely to involve far more close, personal interaction than a grouse shoot on a moor (not advocating grouse shooting, just pointing out it's not a close contact sport.)
Similarly, at a wedding people are more likely to mingle with everyone there. The occasion usually involves hugs and dancing, even well intentioned people may let their guard down in the moment. However, if you go to a pub for a meal, you aren't going around and greeting everyone there.
The pubs are probably at their worst when people have drunk too much as reasoning breaks down, so a curfew that stops friday and saturday night drinking is not a bad idea (especially as getting wasted also puts pressure on health services.)
So the rules may seem a bit silly (the pub isn't guaranteed covid free at 9:59pm and a covid hell hole at 10pm), it's just a case of identifying which occasions, activities and places provide the best environments for covid to spread and limiting them.
Whether this will be enough, I don't know, but if you think about it you can understand what the reasoning is.