I take your point Shambles. As one of the many directly involved in trying to get some sense out of Ronnie Bridgett of the DCMS (the "Sir Humphrey" behind the new law), I spent four years fighting, and the fact that this was merely a judges opinion was not made clear to us during that time. However, that is the old, shortly to disappear law.

The new law is unlikely to be tested for the reasons I gave. In addition to this, landlords in my local area are having problems with the transition. I don't know whether all of this is fact, but they apparently are working under the impression that it is.

1. All pubs that have previously operated without licences, "under two in a bar", will have to stop, as they have no grandfather rights to live music.

2. It may take up to eight months to get approval of the business plan, during which time they can operate as a pub, but without any function to which there are no grandfather rights.

3. If they upset the LA, their business plan can be rejected, without giving reasons, by said LA, and they could be tied up for a long time before getting their new licences.

4. Although the LA are prohibited from imposing unreasonable conditions for live music, they can reject the business plan as a whole, and demand improvements which will have essentially the same effect.

AS I said, I don't know how much of this is true, but the confusion is such that a number of landlords are seriously considering pulling the plug, and just serving beer.

If this were the case nationwide, it would be the death knell of the tradition of folk music in taverns, which is one of the uniquely British pastimes we cannot afford to lose.

An ill considered and badly defined law can cause greater damage than six years of conflict with the most evil dictator in history (he couldn't even stamp out the Jazz clubs in his own country). Tony looks set to beat him, and become the man who silenced England.

I think, when I retire, I might move to Scotland. At least they cherish folk music, even if it isn't quite my scene.

Let's get rid of Tony, and free him to spend all his time sucking up to Gee Dubya.

Don T.