Well I totally agree with your last post there "The Shambles". The law is a total nonsense in this regard. We have had lots of shoddy ill thought through legislation passed by this government and even more hare brained scemes - tax credits anyone!?

I'm fortunate - I live in the country. We get niether police or off duty council officers in the pubs we frequent. You just ask the landlord if it is ok to sing/play. Mostly they say yes and off you go :-)