The following from Hamish Birchall

On 7th May, in response to a written question by Liberal Democrat peer Tim
Clement Jones (HL3291), Lord Davies of Oldham suggested that the
government's public consultation on licensing exemptions for low risk gigs
would be carried out 'by the summer'.

The summer will be over in a few weeks, and there is no sign that this
consultation has even begun. It is now more than a year since the
Musicians' Union and the erstwhile Live Music Forum publicly concluded that
the Licensing Act 2003 had harmed small gigs, and called on the government
to create, as a matter of urgency, a new exemption for such events within
the Act.

On Monday 14th July Lord Clement Jones tabled a further written question
(HL4889), asking the government: '... what is their current timetable for
conducting a public consultation on licensing exemptions for low risk
musical performances; and whether this consultation will take place over the
summer.'

The government's answer is expected by 28 July.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MUSIC: Afternoon on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Wednesday 16th July 2008 (starting in 0 minutes)
Time: 14:00 to 17:00 (3 hours long)

Folk Influences.
In the run-up to the BBC Proms Folk day next month, Penny Gore
presents music by composers inspired by folk songs from Finland,
Poland and Hungary. Veljo Tormis: Piispa ja pakana. BBC...