Here is mine:

Dear Mike Harding ,

I hear (via the Mudcat Cafe - http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=48650) that on 25th June you are to have Kim Howells on your show, presumably to explain what it is he has against Somerset folk singers in pub. And, far more important I hope, to explain why he is proposing to abolish rather than relax the present exemption that means that it is legal for two people in a bar to sing or make music.

The central thing is to get a definition of what counts as a performance. Current case law goes back to the 18th century. At present it appears that a single individual singing a song or playing an instrument in any place open to the public counts as a "performer", regardless of whether they are being paid anything. The only exception to this - apart from church services and in certain circumstances fetes - has been the two-in-a-bar rule, which is now to be abolished.

I have even read a letter from someone in Dr Howells department which appears to means that under the proposed "reform" it will count as "a performance for reward" even if there is no payment - if for example a proprietor has allowed someone to sing or play, in the hope that this might result in more beer, or if a musician or singer is bought a drink by a fellow customer who liked what they heard - or even to shut them up.

More beer, or more coffee, since the PEL requirements do not just apply to pubs, but also to coffee bars etc. It would be impossible for anything comparable to the Skiffle Group phenomenon in Coffee Bars to happen these days, because coffee bars or their equivalent do hardly ever have licences that would permit anyone to make any kind of music.

I suggest that Dr Howells may say (if he gets past the stage of just making jokes about the Wurzles) that of course the law is not interpreted in an unreasonable way, and that in any case the reforms will take care of little local difficulties.

So how about this:
Within the last year within a few miles of where I live in Essex, two flourishing music sessions in pubs in different local authorities, in different counties, have been stopped, solely because of the PEL regulations. One involved bluegrass music, one involved English traditional music. In both cases nobody was being paid to perform, no amplification was involved, and the pubs were no more crowded than they might be on any night. It was just that the publican allowed musicians to meet together and play tunes and sing songs. But the pubs hadn't got a licence to cover music, and the music didn't fall within the two-in-a-bar limit. So the sessions in The Welsh Harp in Waltham Abbey and the Cock in Stansted Mountfitchet have been snuffed out.

And if the two in bar rule is just abolished it will mean the death of other sessions where friendly landlords and sensible local authorities don't bother about counting how many people are taking part in a session.

The bottom line is that I believe that I have a right to make music with friends, so long as we aren't causing a nuisance or danger, without there having to be a licence allowing me to do it. I think it is the duty of Kim Howells to ensure that the law is reformed so as to respect that right, which is as fundamental as the right to free speech, and I'd like to hear him say he agrees with that, and intends to ensure that the law in England and Wales no longer sets out to interfere with that right.

To ensure in fact that we in England and Wales fall in line with other places in the British Isles (for example) which have a more civilized approach to such matters, such as Ireland (both parts), Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Kevin McGrath