The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #56474 Message #884181
Posted By: The Shambles
06-Feb-03 - 02:15 PM
Thread Name: PEL: Howells on BBCR1 TONIGHT!
Subject: RE: PEL: Howells on BBCR1 TONIGHT!
On that subject. I gave the URL for one of the threads and the person I gave it to wrote back to say the link did not work as all they could see was a list of thread titles...............
This local press campaign is interresting. From the Western Morning Press.
DON'T LET MINISTER SILENCE OUR MUSIC
09:00 - 01 February 2003
It takes a special kind of ministerial incompetence to draft a new law which threatens to make criminals out of the two blokes who sing and play a bit of guitar down at the Dog and Duck every Friday night. But it looks like New Labour, and its Minister for Culture, Kim Howells, may be more than equal to the task.
Because the Government's proposed overhaul of the Licensing Act, which covers public performances in pubs, village halls and other venues, will do just that, making even the most modest musical performance illegal without an expensive licence, effectively killing off live music at the vital grass roots level.
The changes to the Licensing Bill, which could come into force as early as next year, will have a devastating impact on live events, introducing a totally unnecessary set of new regulations that will threaten hundreds of performers and do untold damage to the Westcountry tourist business. They will also deliver a kick in the teeth to many community shows and threaten fundraising charity concerts.
The only public performances that the Government has apparently conceded can take place without a costly licence are an impromptu burst of Happy Birthday, a spontaneous singalong in a pub or club, and the hymns in church. But, given New Labour's record for wanting to legislate against anything people actually enjoy, who knows what might be next for the statute book?
The legislation, now making its way through Parliament, would abolish the regulations which allow up to two musicians to play in a pub without a music licence. And it would also force hundreds of village hall committees, which currently escape costly licences for putting on charity shows and community concerts, to pay heavily for the privilege.
This is more than just an annoying piece of new bureaucracy. This is a full-blown assault on a long-standing tradition which could have a genuinely damaging effect on a region like the Westcountry and seriously stifle creativity.
Live music is an already threatened commodity in our pre-recorded, video age, with what passes for entertainment available at the press of a button or a flick of a switch. Yet the tradition of the folk duos, the pub singers, the pianist in the corner tickling the ivories and the rowdy busker bashing out requests, lives on in many of our pubs and clubs.
Long may it continue to do so, since it is the breeding ground for the singers and musicians now recognised and rewarded as superstars. It also gives enormous pleasure to the audiences of countless performers who have no ambition higher than topping the bill in the local saloon bar.
What on earth does the Government hope to gain by putting all of that in jeopardy? Kim Howells rejoices in the title of Minister of State for Culture, Sport and the Media. If this Bill goes through Parliament in his name, then he will have no right whatsoever to the Culture part of that title. Culture, as Mr Howells surely understands, doesn't begin and end at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the opera house and the ballet. It is as much about ordinary people entertaining themselves and each other with a few songs in their own communities, whether in the pub, the community centre or the village hall.
Why put that at risk with this change in the rules? For the Treasury, the extra licensing fees won't amount to much more than a drop in the ocean. Yet the cost to an individual pub or a village hall committee is likely to be enough to persuade the landlord, manager or chairman to conclude that the live music has got to go.
That cannot and must not be allowed to happen. That's why the Western Morning News is today calling on readers to sign our protest forms and send them back to us, so that we can pass them on to the Minister. Acclaimed singer Billy Bragg, who made his first musical forays on the pub and club scene, has made his opposition to this change in the law very clear. Equally angry are the dedicated musicians from Crediton-based touring group the Pennymoor Singaround, who are backing our campaign.
If the Government believes this legislation is a good idea, then it is more out of touch with ordinary people than we thought. And if it didn't foresee the impact such changes would have, then it is just plain incompetent. Either way there is still time to stop this law from being enacted. And with enough support we can do it.