Nanny bans Carols and Susans and Alices etc..Ha! Ha!Only Nanny's twisted little mind could have come up with something as daft as this.
It seems that carol singers have found themselves tied up by Nanny's new licensing laws.
Under the Licensing Act, which came into force last month and allows pubs to extend their opening hours, carollers do not need a licence if they just sing.
However, as with all of Nanny's rules there is a catch, if the carol singers make arrangements beforehand to sing in a particular place, they then have to apply in writing for a "temporary event notice" from their local council.
Can you believe this load of old bollocks?
Even I, who have run this site for over a year, have some difficulty in believing how stupid Nanny is being in this particular case.
Needless to say, Nanny's ever "popular" local councils have added to the confusion by interpretating the act in different ways.
In North Wales a carol service was originally cancelled when the supermarket, where it was to be staged, said that it needed a licence. However, it was then put back on again when the local council said the requirement under the new law was "nonsense".
However, a large event in Norfolk last weekend had to be called off at the last minute; after Nanny's unhelpful "jobsworth" trolls in the local authority ruled that it could not go ahead without a temporary event notice.
Churches Together, a group that organises inter-denominational carol singing and Christmas services, said:
"It has been suggested that the legislation needs 'testing' through prosecution of so-called test cases".
70 singers from local churches were to sing last Saturday outside Budgens in Poringland. However, it had to be cancelled because of confusion over the licensing requirements.
Nanny's trolls in South Norfolk district council said that a licence was needed, but that it was too late to apply.
Look you prats, all you do is turn a blind eye to the singing and don't prosecute.
Or are you too stupid and thick headed to do that?
I assume the latter.
The sad fact is that Nanny continues to hold power because she is supported by "jobsworth" cretins in local authorities, and other state organs, who are getting a power kick out of enforcing daft laws.
Seven million people now work for Nanny, no wonder she has so much power!
Suffice to say Nanny is an ass!
However, there are some people who are prepared to stand up to Nanny. I am pleased to note that today a group of people will test this stupid law, and indeed test another one of Nanny's nasty and iniquitous laws.
Carol singers are to defy a ban on unauthorised protests around Parliament.
The group will test Nanny's new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, by singing in Parliament Square from 1800 GMT today.
Nanny has stated that demonstrating without police permission an arrestable offence near Parliament.
Singers will include long-term anti-war protester Brian Haw and Maya Evans, the first protester to be convicted.
Mr Haw is the one protester exempt from the ban, due to a Home Office drafting error. He successfully argued in the High Court that as his 4 year vigil pre-dated the law, therefore he did not have to apply for authorisation to continue.
However, he will of course be breaching the Licensing Act..OOOHH!
Since the Serious Crime Act came into force in August, several people have been arrested and other protesters have been warned off.
Peace campaigner Ms Evans was the first to be convicted under the Act, after reading out the names of soldiers killed in Iraq at the Cenotaph.
Mr Haw will lead the Lord's Prayer at the service on Wednesday, joined by others including former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, and a 7 July bombings survivor.
A spokesman for the carol singers, Tim Ireland, said:
"We believe that the public has the right to gather in a public place and sing Christmas carols. The police may see things differently, we shall see."
I bet Nanny tries to use the Licensing Act to get them.
I wish all who attend this event, it is planned to continue for as long as Nanny doesn't intervene, the very best of luck.
Ditto Railwayman's sentiments. Picture several hundred peaceful carolers being on the receiving end of a Christmas present of batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets from Nanny's enforcers (Selma, Alabama 1965, anyone?).
ReplyDeleteBit late for me to catch a train , but best wishes for all who attend.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the day when we see the massed ranks of Nanny's middle managers manning a baracade.
What the hell is happening to Britain????
ReplyDeleteI too wish the carol singers well. This may be their last chance to celbrate Christmas before they are converted to Islam.
Good luck to those in London and here is an idea for any of the other groups whose 'pre-planned' events may fall foul of the local licencing busybodies.
ReplyDeleteJust abandon you planned event and have an unplanned one instead ...
If the planned event was to start at 19:00 by the main entrance to the supermarket, start it earlier, or later as an ad-hoc event and allow the group to spontaneously congregate a short distance from the front door.
If that doesn't work get one of the TV channels to repeat the Battleship Potemkin file, particularly the famous sequendce on the steps, endlessly until Nanny gets the message.
I presume there is some sort of fee required for the licence, totherwise I can;t see why the local bully boys should be interested.
Some (or rather many) years ago I was at a friend's pub for lunch on a Sunday. Lovely time. The Publican had some other friends staying that weekend, one of whom was a professional, though little known, singer songwriter. After lunch, in the bar area, she sang a couple of songs for the fun of it. She took a short break to decide what to sing next and we were amazed to hbe regaled with a wonderful choral work from some of the other diners who had arrived on a couple of passing coaches. It turned out they were a Welsh Choir returning from a competition on the south coast.
Songs alternated between the two 'acts' for the best part of an hour as lunch was completed and the choir then said their farewells and rejoined their buses. A very mellow afternoon was enjoyed by those of who remained.
If that was to happen today my guess is that some nark would call the coulcl and the police and we would have a small army of body-armoured plod in a fleet of tactical response vehicles surrounding the place before you could say 'Rump Steak'. Always plenty of plod on overtime to be found on a Sunday it seems.
A was 'holiday' shopping today while my car was having a small technical problem diagnosed. The City Centre hae, apparently, had a 'German Market' operating for the last few weeks.
I heard many people speaking in tongues I did not recognise. Several temporary stall holders in other parts of the shopping areas accosted me to offer their goods. Many spoke excellent English but it was clear that their first language was something else.
I am having some difficulty trying to assess where immigration ends and invasion begins. I think immigration is a relatively slow process which has been happening for some years.
Invasion seems to be a rapid progress which has happened this year, along with the change for Happy Christmas or Happy Xmas to 'Happy Holidays'.
But is 'holidays' any more politically correct than christmas?
The world is truly and rapidly going insane.
According to my clocks the carol singers should now have been singing for 25 minutes, unless they have all been arrested on the grounds of being suspect terrorists lurking around Parliament.
ReplyDeleteMay add my own best wishes to them, and also two fingers to Nanny.
Ken, can we have an update tomorrow as to how they got on??