Blog • Busking

Camden buskers defy council ban

Camden buskers took to the streets on the first day of the council’s new licence scheme – under which unlicensed busking becomes a crime, punishable with an £1000 fine. Specifically, percussion and wind instruments – all of them! – are banned, and will not be licensed except in exceptional circumstances. In this video, a protesting unlicensed percussionist ad libs on libertarianism, including the lines ‘I walk within my own authority; nobody stands over me’; and (on bureaucrats’ ‘shite’): ‘when you stand up to it, it’s insubstantial’. Interestingly, there wasn’t a council officer in sight; which was great, and suggests that the council…

Blog • Busking

Camden Council’s war on buskers

The Campaign group Keep Streets Live is challenging Camden Council’s draconian new busking law in the High Court. The new law is extraordinarily severe, anathema to this vibrant and chilled part of London with a lively street music scene. Not only will buskers have to apply in advance and pay for a licence, there are also strict rules and conditions for busking which will make the activity all but impossible. The very notion of a licence undermines the nature of busking which is – in the words of Keep Streets Live director Jonny Walker – ‘an informal and impromptu form of entertainment’.…

Blog • Football Fans Not Criminals

‘Yid Army’ charges should never have been brought

It is good news that charges have been dropped against three Tottenham fans for using the word ‘Yid’. But why was such a case brought in the first place? It was last September that the FA put out a statement warning Spurs fans that their ‘Yid Army’ chants are likely ‘to be considered offensive by the reasonable observer. Use of the term in a public setting could amount to a criminal offence and leave fans liable to prosecution’. Tottenham fans had also been told to ‘drop the Y-word from their songbook’ by lobby groups such as the Community Security Trust and the…

Blog • Freedom hotline • Take action!

No to state parents in Scotland

The Scottish government has passed a bill to appoint a ‘named person’ for every child at birth, with the responsibility of ‘advising, informing or supporting the child or young person’. These parental functions will hitherto be allotted to an employee of a health board or education authority (it is specifically stated that the named person cannot be one of the child’s parents). This extraordinary Children and Young Person’s Act exemplifies a shift within child protection policy, from focusing on children ‘at risk of significant harm’, to the state assuming responsibility for ensuring the ‘wellbeing’ of every child – as if the entire…

Briefings • Football Fans Not Criminals

57 travel-restricting ‘bubble’ football matches

In the Manifesto Club report, Criminalising Football Fans, Peter Lloyd documented the heavy-handed use of travel restrictions for football fans, known as ‘bubble matches’. At these matches away-fans are banned from travelling by car or public transport, and can only travel by licensed coaches from specified pick-up points. This is a major inconvenience, and gross interference on the freedom of movement of the majority of law-abiding fans. In April 2012, Peter Lloyd found that there had been 48 ‘bubble’ matches. He now reports there have been seven ‘bubble’ matches since the publication of the report, and two matches are scheduled in the…

Free movement - visiting artists

Tell House of Lords about problems for international students

We’ve written before about the problem of final-year architecture students under threat of deportation. The House of Lords’ Science and Technology Committee has issued a call for evidence, on the effect of immigration rules on international students. The deadline is 20 February. Do contact them with any case studies. We are looking for other architecture students in the same position as Roxanne Walters – under threat of deportation in their final year. If this is you, do get in touch. Tweet

On-the-spot fines • Reports

The Corruption of Punishment

A new Manifesto Club report shows how local authorities are using litter fines as a money-making operation. People are being fined for increasingly trivial incidents – from dropping a match stick, to a piece of cotton falling off a glove. More worryingly, often these fines are given out by private companies who are working on a commission basis. The report argues that such profiteering punishment works against the interests of justice and public service. We recommend that fines be used only in proportion to the offence, and when necessary for the public interest. Download the report: The Corruption of Punishment Responses to…

Booze bans • Dispersal powers • Leafleting bans • Public space

Banned in London – Online map

You are in danger of unwittingly committing an offence if you stray into one of 435 special zones in London. The boundaries of these zones are often unmarked and within them many everyday activities are either banned or restricted. A new Manifesto Club online Google map, Banned in London, reveals the 435 special zones that now cover half the area of the UK capital. In these areas, people can be fined or prosecuted for activities that would not otherwise be an offence – including leafleting, protesting, dog walking, gathering in groups, and drinking in public.   Go to the Banned in London…

Blog • Freedom hotline

Security scare over a walking stick

This YouTube video shows a standoff between a British citizen and a police officer. The officer is concerned that the citizen’s walking stick is actually a ‘drinking stick’, filled with alcohol, and demands to search it. The citizen responds that he does not want it to be searched, explaining that if you unscrew the pin it will take ages to get back together. Cue surreal conversation. ‘It’s a walking stick’. Officer: ‘It’s not a drinking stick then?’ ‘I don’t drink’. Officer: ‘It’s unusual to see people walking along with objects like this. Sometimes they have a little dagger in it’. ‘I can…

Briefings • Photo bans

A Bill of Rights for Free Photography in the City

Photographers in the City of London face constant hassle from private security guards (see a film and blogpost on this here). The Manifesto Club’s Peter Lloyd approached City authorities, asking whether they planned to do anything about these over-officious private security guards. With the help of councilman Alex Deane, the City has responded by issuing a booklet for private security guards about the regulation of photography. This booklet emphasises that security personnel ‘do not have the right to stop individuals photographing or filming in a public place’. It also states that security personnel should ‘refrain from acting in an intimidating manner’; that…

Blog • Vetting

Child photography banned at National Trust for Scotland site

This email recalls how a visitor to a National Trust for Scotland site was warned at the entrance that he shouldn’t take photographs of children… ‘I recently visited J.M. Barrie’s birthplace home in Kirriemuir, Angus, a building run by the National Trust for Scotland, holding a camera. I was expressly told, as I purchased tickets, that I must not use my camera to photograph children. Mention was made of both child protection and data protection legislation, and also of the possibility of tracing women in refuges via possible posting on social networking sites. ‘It did make me feel that I was being…