Thanks to The Shambles for the link.   

Frankly, this whole thing fills me with dread.   The more I read about it, the more irritated I become. I thought at first this was just a public safety issue which had reached a point of regulatory absurdity.   But reading some of the recent announcements, this 'problem', which common sense says should never have occurred in the first place, seems to be extending a remit to bodies who are the very antitheses of producing a "vibrant live music scene". The Forum is made up of "members of the music industry, the Arts Council, local authorities, small venue owners and Government" …Oh shit.

In my humble, it seems blindingly bloody obvious that if you want a "vibrant live music scene" you need Vibrant Live Musicians, not forums of the Great, the Good and Blatant Opportunists.   There is another point that I'd have thought the Arts Council and Government should be only too aware of after the millions of lottery pounds spent on bricks and mortar. This is that the mere provision of suitable venues may satisfy building regulations, but it does absolutely nothing to create or stimulate the artists or the audiences needed to fill them. Anyone care to guess how many times this has been pointed out and ignored in the last 30 years?

Pub or "grass roots" music, in whatever form, has gone on for goodness knows how many hundred of years, waxing and waning with the times. It has managed this, I would argue, (Indeed I did a dissertation on this very subject) precisely because it was free of interference from government, worthy institutions, and blatant commercial interests, and not because of them.   

My one consolation is that whatever legislation is finally passed, for good or ill, I'm quite sure some musician / actor / singer / juggler or other creative "grass roots" performer will immediately find a way around it.         

A pint and a song, you really wouldn't have thought they could cock up something quite so f****g simple.