Just how exactly does a music event promote terrorism? Shouldn't half the population have been hacked up by crazed heavy metal fans by now if this argument held any weight?

As for the 10,000 applications, surely this is *helping* terrorists since police will be wasting time pushing papers instead of doing something useful.

And with the price of booze now being decided by the good old gov looks like where all be sitting at home watching strictly come factor (sure El Reg come up with a better name).

Do you think this will lead to Talidan style bans on certain music? (or in the Talibans case all music)

Last Politician to leave the re-education camps please turn of the light.

The rules are totally identical with pre-1990es Bulgaria. This is a positive sign actually as if I recall correctly it was the only Communist not to require the performing artists to have a valid membership in a specific performing arts union. In the USSR you also had to supply a membership ID with the application.

So what next, we all hail our dear leader Gordon Zhivkov the president of the People's Republic of England? He needs a bit of a bold patch for likeness as well as a better talent at extracting one side benefits from "special relationships" with world powers. While the first one can be easily arranged, I somehow doubt he has the intellect for the second.

Me coat

Now then Mr Sharkey, what's this that just fell out of your pocket?

If this is what senior officers of the Met spend their time doing its no wonder that they dont have the time to spend providing oversight to stop their men blowing away brazilian electricians.

The 'officer' and I use the term in the loosest sense surely deserves the name Plod.

That is all

Paris - cos I swear I saw her doing the "dutty wine" in a South London dancehall bash a while back.

The terrorists want to destroy our way of life. That's what we're told. And yet here we are with the government watching our every move, stopping us from reading certain things - being exposed to certain words and ideas; wanting to curb the drinking of alcohol; puntitive crackdowns on unnaceptable forms of sexuality; movements to stop certain 'language' on TV - curbs on 'offensive' speech; curtailing and banning musical performances - restrictions on expressions of our culture.

I can't be the only one thinking that we *might as well* be living under the fucking Taliban.

You never know, one day the police might actually get around to arresting people for minor offense such as.... burglary, theft, mugging etc.

This is some crazy stuff. I'm a bit lost for words really. When does the revolution come again?

in this case bashment is correct, not 'basement'. bashment == dancehall

Slowly but surely the paranoid morons are ruining our society. Soon you will need a permit for leaving your home.

The terrorists must be laughing their socks off at the way they are crippling us without putting themselves at any risk whatsoever.

Unfortunately we have allowed a special breed to be crated - the terrorist risk assessors. They HAVE to find risks even if they do not exist because if they don't then they are out of a job. End result - we all suffer for no reason other than to keep a few morons in a job.

What a sad country this is turning into.

You will soon need one just to get out of bed in the morning.

RIP the last vestiges of common sense left in our so beloved NuLab Government who by the way couldn't organise the proverbial piss up in a brewery. Of sorry, there is sometheng else thay want to ban. No more Breweries = No more people getting pissed and there goes all that nice police overtime.

Paris becasuse she won't be able to hear her fav tunes and have a drink at the same time

Tried the Word document, and OpenOffice warned that it was a security risk as it contained macros (which it kindly disabled for me). I wonder whether the Met show me their risk assessment for using Microsoft Word as a document creator?

Oops, too late...

"The terrorists want to destroy our way of life. That's what we're told. And yet here we are with the government watching our every move, stopping us from reading certain things - being exposed to certain words and ideas; wanting to curb the drinking of alcohol; puntitive crackdowns on unnaceptable forms of sexuality; movements to stop certain 'language' on TV - curbs on 'offensive' speech; curtailing and banning musical performances - restrictions on expressions of our culture."

What he said, all this is getting damn scary...

Flames cos paper combusts at 451 fahrenheit...

to describe this along with other things that this gov/political police force are forcing onto us all in the guise of fighting terrorism

Disgusting!

dumb dumb, dumb dumb, dumb.

Its not every day that you see the stupidest thing you've ever seen.

for when the National Symphony Orcrestra headline with So Solid Crew.

They've just handed Billy Bragg a decade's worth of incentive to write new stuff.

Democratic control my foot. This means the control of the bureaucrats in licensing departments. No election involved.

Even if it were, what makes a gig on private property any business at all of the elected authorities, unless it is a direct nuisance to someone else?

"...that permits the police to ban any live music if they fail to receive personal details from the performers 14 days in advance."

Really? There is no evidence of that in this article, so wheres that from?

"Licensing of live music is nominally under the democratic control of local authorities. However, few councillors dare contradict the advice of the constabulary - even when such advice exceeds the police's authority, as it does here."

Yeah, I call BS on the first part, that councils never go against the advice of the police. And as for the second bit, I don't see how the police have exceeded their "Authority" by asking questions relevant to foruming a risk assessment.

The way forward is not a police state, its a health and safety one.

But it must be because of TERRORISTS, Feargal Sharkey said so.

I watched V for Vendetta for the first time earlier today, then read this article. Worrying.

apologist to try and tell people that "this is not a Police state" wants to have this inserted where the Sun doesn't shine.

The bunch of fucktards running the show here are a far bigger threat to this country than Al Qeada could ever be.

If only we had an ID card system then everyone attending a mass attendance event such as a musical performance could simply produce their card, or better have their fingerprints scanned - this way known troublemakers could be singled out beforehand, and anyone else making trouble at the event could easily be identified.

It's just crime prevention, nothing more, nothing less.

Leaders of the free world? Ha! Not bloody likely.

Not sure the US is any better but the rot that set in with Nu-Labour is a major factor in my current plans to depart this "Sceptred Isle"

"Go", because that's what anyone with any sense should be planning on doing.

Would the last sane, non-PC, non-NIMBY, non-Draconian person to least please turn out the light?

Please stop publishing articles like this one. You are undermining our efforts to show how terrible America is.

We might just start an underground music movement (down in the bashment or out in the garage) and have cells and secret handshakes and we'll talk Lolspeak to fox the Special Branch bugging.

Mine's the one with the balaclava...

sorry, i could have written something more intelligent and thoughtful, i'm currently playing on a pirate radio station and have been in and out of the music biz for 20 years..have released 4 pieces of vinyl as well..

..but why should i?

they are just TOSSERS.

never mind about the mythical "al queda"...the POLICE and the GOVERNMENT are the biggest threats to our way of life!!!

cheers,

bill

p.s. stuff and nonsense: http://www.eupeople.net/forum

WTF?????? ok, so having a live gig now brings you to the attention of our "beloved" Police Force? Hang on, just who the f*** is being protected from who? As other posters have said, we can't drink, we can't go out at night (not because you'll get beaten up, but because coppers assume you're up to no good), you can't do the horizontal fandango in any other way than horizontally, under the covers with the lights off and we can't say what is on our mind.

Even the f***ing IRA weren't this bad... at least you were allowed to get drunk! It's a sodding awful feeling knowing I have more to fear from the Govt and it's gang of Enforcers than I've ever had to fear from any terrorist.

"Come Mr Tailban, Tally me live DJs,

Freedom gone an' me wanna go home

Come Mr Tailban, Tally me live DJs,

Police State's come an' me wanna go home

It's six foot, seven foot, eight foot PUNCH!

Coppers' come and me wan' go home

Six foot, seven foot, eight foot ZAPPP

Copper's got a taser and me on the floor"

Yes I know the last line doesn't scan properly but it's late and the whole business has depressed hell out of me :(

What is the source of Sharkey's (and the Reg's headline writer's) suggestion that this police action is done for "anti-terrorism" purposes? The Form 696 you reproduce only mentions "crime and disorder".

If it isn't about "anti-terrorism" , it looks like you are just crying wolf, and thus undermines your reporting of cases where the police genuinely *do* misuse anti-terror legislation.

should they get inundated with forms a la "singstar with me mates"?

We used to think it was bad when the Lord Chamberlain had to approve plays.

We thought things were getting better when that was abolished.

But now only musicians who are approved of by the police will be allowed to perform?

So no musician will dare ever say anything controversial, or disapproving of authority, because if they do then they will be forbidden to play music.

What a load of nonsense. I can't see anything on that form that mentions terrorism, that’s just an attempt to get a sexier headline for what is in essence a no-story.

And predictably the net furnishes a line of people who wring their hands at something that has been the way it is for ages, does not effect them at all and which they only take an interest in because someone tells them to.

Event A: A classical music concert held in a church hall

Event B: A Garage/RAP face off competition in a nightclub with a 24 hr license.

Do you think the potential for disorder/violence is likely to be different for one than the other? Do you think it might be prudent to have more police at one than the other? In short are the RISKS to the public greater for one or the other?

Or more specifically if 2 artists whose followers have a predisposition for violence towards each other are going to be at the same venue you don't think that SHOULD factor in to how an event is policed.

How do you think the police decide what resources to dedicate to an event without having some sort of information about its content, how many people are going, for how long, to do what, will there be alcohol, what is the likely demographic makeup of that group, what sort of crime is prevalent among that group, what problems have arose from similar sized and themed events in the past.

Or maybe its none of the police's business and everyone should be allowed to get on with it. And you'll respect the freedom of someone to drunkenly bottle you and walk away laughing because there’s not a copper within 5 miles and there’s none of that intrusive unwanted CCTV making you feel like a criminal.

The article clearly says, in spite of a bias so strong it qualifies as a riptide, the police are asking, you don't have to give the information but if you don't then why be surprised when they object. If you applied for an events license and didn't know how many people were going, or when it'd be over, or what security you would have at the venue would you expect anything else?

Its not the government blaming everything on the fight against terrorism, its the journalist. Very poor article indeed.

By Paul Posted Tuesday 11th November 2008 16:43 GMT

"Slowly but surely the paranoid morons are ruining our society. Soon you will need a permit for leaving your home."

Haven't you heard of the ID Card yet?

well, it was...

till the State Music Industry Police kicked the door in and (used state sanctioned apropriate force)stunned/koshed and dragged the DJ out by his ankles, smashed all the vynal and wiped all the harddrives just in case there was anything inapropriate on them...(like legally paid for music).

Looks like Maggies ideas for taxing everything including fresh air will come to fruition...

Anyone noticed that all the ('other nation' nationals) people are fleeing london...(they must luv BorisJ). I mean its soo bad now you trip over (cheshire cats) in the nightclub (whilst fighting through thick clouds of ganja smoke), its terrible. What happened to OUR nightclubs//country ????

I think i'll move the St.Peterburg, a much safer place to live. no problems with foot in mouth, whilst at the night club(or of draconian state police dragging the DJ(or the punters) out the back for a spot of re-Education regarding the rules of the house).

---"Have a look at the papers and tell me where the black-on-black shootings happen? They're around the night time economy," said Eyles.---

surprised no-one has picked up on this not only blatant racist comment but also ignorant understanding of causes of violent crime

indeed logically since the majority of britons are white and hence most crime will involve white people would anyone talk about white on white crime? no , because it is not only irrelevant but racist.

regarding the actual story - if enough people resist and are unco-operative no way the police can manage it, e.g. what's to stop people from lying on the form and putting down 'classical music' as opposed to 'grime'