I noticed in that quote from the House of Lords where Lord Bassam of Brighton (!!) says: "We worked with the Local Government Association earlier this year and jointly published guidance to local authorities on how to act on these matters. We are working very closely with local authorities to ensure that fair enforcement is carried out."

Now here is a link to a webpage linking to this guidance:

"The finalised Conditions and Explanatory Notes are published below (August 2000). These documents were not prepared by the LGA, and any queries on them should be made to Dr Colin Manchester, University of Birmingham, email: manchecd@law.bham.ac.uk"

I think we should take him up on that invitation: "any queries on them should be made to Dr Colin Manchester".

The specific query should be specific I suggest, namely "What is the definition of "public entertainment", and would that include people singing or maming music together for their own enjoyment in a pub or a cafe? And do the guidelines specifically address this point? (I mustbadmit I haven't read it yet, but I very much doubt if it does address the point.)

Since this is information-seeking rather than lobbying, I would suggest that a single email is appropriate, rather than all at once - and I think Shambles, as the person who is at the heart of this, might be the person to send it.

Good luck with the Chief Executive tomorrow anyway (if that is still on).

Still not many on that Weymouth bulletin board. Though it is getting quite interesting.