"It is strange how the English in particular can find merit in everyone else's culture and tradition but find their own fit only for lame attempts at humour"

Yeah Shambles - but Kim Howells isn't English is he?

It's a chicken and egg situation - the local authorities won't move until the DCMS moves, and the DCMS won't move unless they get pressure from the local authorities. Assuming that Hamish is right in saying that local authorities do in fact have the power to abolish "PEL fees and conditions for small-scale gigs in bars and other on-licensed premises", I'd have thought that lobbying locally for that to happen is probably more likely to be effective than trying to get central government to get a move on.

Once one local authority does this, it'll be a precedent that can be quoted to get others to follow on.

But in the light of things like Weymouth Council saying they have no authority to be flexible, clearly some legal commentary confirming that they do in fact have the authority to be flexible would help.

Any chance of something of that sort being produced?