Good summary, Noreen. Government position full of holes, but holes are openings.

It is important to keep pushing, locally and nationally. I would think that the position stated by the Minister of Sport is a clear invitation to any local councils to come up with formal policies which would suit us.

Effectively what he said was "we'd like to see councils adopt sensible policies on this, but I'm not sure whether we can actually instruct them on what to do." There has to be a council somewhere who sees this as a way of winnig brownie points from the government by producing a musicians charter.

I was pleased that David Heath emphasised that this isn't just about places with drinks licences, and that it's all types of music. This wasn't picked up by the government spokesman, and I think these are points that need to be pushed, locally and nationally I want us to be able to have sessions in coffee houses and suchlike as well as pubs. (NB not instead of)