Basically the situation is that the Government has chucked out the sensible amendments put in by the House of Lords which would have exempted unamplified music and smallish gigs. So now it's back to the House of Lords, to decide whether to roll over and accept this, or dig in its heels, and put the amendments back in.

In which case the Government would either have to drop the whole bill, and start all over again, or accept the amendments, and they wouldl't want to do either. The point is, since the bill was started in the House of Lords, probably because they assumed it'd be nice and uncontroversial, they can't use the Parliament Act to overule them.

Meanwhile the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are merrily trotting around.

Anyway, this should be a good gig. Give them my apologies, Simon, I've got to pop over to Ireland to sort out some family things. Here is a song I'd planned to sing if I'd been there - The Minister of Culture:

We'll never find a better friend than the Minister of Culture.
They may say we sent him round the bend, from Westmoreland to Wiltshire,
But every time we sing a song, and the licence is not handy,
We will think of Kim the Minister, from the land of Tonypandy.
Oh Kim we will remember you, who ever could forget you.
You're the man who tried to silence us, except, we never let you.

Well he promised this and he promised that, but he never could deliver,
"If there's no money changing hands it's different altogether
Oh you can hold your sessions there's no reason for a licence."
Just a fine of twenty thousand pound to calm us into silence?
Oh Kim we will remember you, who ever could forget you.
You're the man who tried to silence us, except, we never let you.

When it's summer down in Somerset you might hear the chorus ringing,
He says "I'd rather be in hell than hear those Somerset folks a-singing"
And he won't have no sing-songs in the public bar in London,
So the piano locked and bolted, with a lock that can't be undone.
Oh Kim we will remember you, who ever could forget you.
You're the man who tried to silence us, except, we never let you.

Oh the bells were ringing in the church, and the dancers on the paving,
And the Minister of Culture he was very close to raving.
Oh he blamed it on the Union, for grave misinformation,
But the Minister of Culture now is a joke through all the nation.
Oh Kim we will remember you, who ever could forget you.
You're the man who tried to silence us, except, we never let you.

(And here is a link to a RealAudio sound file of it (not a polished rendering...)