I'mnot defending the police, or Form 696. It appears very intrusive. But its not as simple as identifying certain bands which may attract trouble. I imagine that this is aimed at situations where there are a number of participants, including their entourages, who may use a variety of names and aliases. I assume that asking for their addresses helps the police to identify them. Whether it's a proper question is another matter.

Why the assumption that "discrimination" is automatically bad? There are some events, and genres of music, which are associated with drugs, weapons and violence and which need reliable security and active policing. Should the same levels of policing be applied to your local singaround? If your answer is "no", then that's discrimination.

I agree that there's a lot in Form 696 to worry about, including overtones of racial discrimination. What I'm not yet convinced of is that it's actually being misused. For all the heat this has generated, I've still to see any evidence of this.

The average person in the street who reads of the latest shooting at some gig will be all in favour of the police taking steps to improve their policing of these events. Are we saying the police shouldn't do their best to control crime at some music events? Or are we saying that this is overkill, especially for the majority of events which don't attract any trouble. If it's the former, I don't think we'll get much sympathy; if it's the latter, let's be sure that it's actually being used to control this type of event, otherwise our views will be dismissed and our broader objections ignored