I agree with Steve about it being a mistake to try lobbying MPs along the lines suggested earlier in that press release Shambles quoted. Things have moved on.

There needs to be some system for protecting successful festivals from going under because of quirks in the way the local tax system works - as demonstrated in Sidmouth, where the viability of a festival bringing millions of pounds into the local economy has been threatened because of the need for a relatively small sum to cover against the vagaries of the weather.

Now we've got Edinburgh Festival apparently under threat for the same kind of reason - not the weather, but the fact that most of the money brought in by the festival never reaches anybody who has anything to do with running or financing the festival, so there's a shortfall. While it wouldn't worry me much if Edinburgh went belly-up, it's got a powerful lobby of supporters, and I think that could provide an opening for effective lobbying which could help protect Sidmouth, among others.

I'd like to see some serious proposals for a system of financial support that would protect important cultural events - and Sidmouth is definitely one such. And I think that if Edinburgh is under serious threat that could prove the catalyst to developing such a system.