Is making a circus apply for entertainment permission from say 47 different local authorities, really the best way to ensure that they put the tent up properly?

Punch and Judy shows also need the same permissions to put up their tents, but the safety concerns are hardly the same - as the audience stay outside.

But the reason both have to apply is NOT really a sensible public safety measure. It is because the drafters of this Act and the committee of MPs who were supposed to fine-tune it were incompetent. And the Liberal Democrat Peers, who could and should have joined with the Tories and voted to throw the whole thing out - bottled it at the last minute.

Most of the clowns were not in the circus.