Birmingham City Council makes clowns cry!

With all the news of dodgy bankers, short sellers with long memories, and ineffectual watchdogs, you'd think that having a bit of fun was OK. In Birmingham there is going to be a circus with clowns. Part of their act involves using trumpets. This would be fun, I'd think. Not for Birmingham City Council's licensing regulators. When they heard about it, they nearly got the tent folded. RULES!!! REGULATIONS!!! REDTAPE!!!! They went into spoilsport mode and became very functionary indeed.

Jacqui Kennedy, Birmingham City Council's director of regulatory services, has said, "Under the Licensing Act 2003 elements of the programme proposed by Zippos (the circus in question) would fall into the category of regulated entertainment. On that basis such events would require either a licence under the Licensing Act 2003, or a Temporary Event Notice under the same legislation. Birmingham City Council do not condone unlicensed events."

She won't be going to the circus! All this is correct, but this law is another one that hasn't been thought out properly. It is supposed to -

1. Prevent crime and disorder. 2. Promote public safety. 3. Refrain from being a public nuisance. 4. Protect children from harm.

None of these is in any way reason for Ms Kennedy to ban the clowns from playing their trumpets. Most of these laws are round-about ways for councils to make MORE MONEY and not for the betterment of society. The real point here is that the circus would have to get a licence to play the trumpets. COST enters the fray.

Let's be honest about these things. Let's not dress up laws so that they make a mockery of common sense. Ms Kennedy has only succeded in making the clowns cry and showing up Birmingham City Council as a jobsworth outfit.

Posted in: Birmingham City Council,redtape,Zippos Circus