Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Have you got a license to do that??

I head a rather ridiculous item on last night`s television news.
Apparently it`s illegal to go carol singing in the streets, or at an old folks home or any venue at all unless you`ve bought a license to do so!
What is this country coming to, when the simple pleasure of a group of people carol singing could be breaking the law. Alright, I can understand if they say they`re collecting for charity, there should be some way to ensure that the money is for the charity, if that`s what behind this, but it didn`t sound as if that was the reason. Even if a group go to entertain at a hospital or similar place they (so the tv said) need a license to do it.
What happened to the Christmas spirit of good will? Why should people who are willing to give their time to give pleasure to others be expected to pay out for a license to do so. To me it seems ridiculous.
What ever next? Will we soon need a license to walk along the sea front, or even down our own streets?

3 comments:

Dave said...

You obvioulsy missed all the protests about this law when it was being debated last year. You now need a licence for any form of organised entertainment - originally churches were going to be included, and would have required a licence to hold services; after protests the proposed law was revised - but it still includes carol singing outside the church.

Dave said...

'Will we soon need a license to walk along the sea front, or even down our own streets'

If they bring in identity cards, then effectively, yes.

There is, I should have said in my last comment, debate about what the regulations actually mean - whether a profit element is involved (and is taking a collection whilst carol singing 'for profit'?) - as they said on the TV (assuming you were watching the same prog I was) until we get some court cases to test it, we won't really know what the law means.

Ivy said...

Yes, this was the first I`d heard of it. I also noticed on the programme they said if it was spontaneous one wouldn`t need a license, but if it was organised beforehand one would. Maybe we`ll all have to congregate and just be spontaneous in what we do.