Yes, It Works, But....

The Met Police has scrapped a controversial risk assessment form for live music events after it sparked a race row.

Top DJs, promoters and venues held talks with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who asked the police force to look again at “form 696” amid concerns it was being used to unfairly target grime and R&B artists.

Yes, well, as has been pointed out, there's no corresponding link with violence at Seventies Disco Night events or Glyndebourne, is there?

The form was originally introduced in 2005 following several shootings at promoted club nights across London.

In 2009, two questions asking for the ethnic make-up of the audience and music genre were scrapped from the form following complaints of racism.

*rolls eyes*

The Met said that while “there is no doubt that over the last decade a number of serious incidents have been prevented” because of the form process, they recognise the recent concerns.

Translation: "We're terrified of the 'r' word, so bugger safety of the public.."

Superintendent Roy Smith, said: “It is clear that in recent years the landscape of the night time economy in London has changed and thankfully we have seen a reduction in serious incidents at promoted music events, particularly those involving firearms. We have also been working in close partnership with the music industry and others to raise standards of safety in venues and at events.

“We have taken the decision to remove the Form 696 and instead develop a new voluntary partnership approach for venues and promoters across London. This will provide an excellent opportunity to share information at a local level and work to identify any enhanced risk to ensure the safety of the public.”

That'll be worth the paper it won't be written on then...

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Developing a night-time economy that works for everyone is a key priority of mine but it’s also vital that live music events in London take place safely. I called for a review of Form 696 earlier this year because of concerns raised by promoters and artists in the capital that this process was unfairly affecting specific communities and music genres.

“By bringing together the Met and representatives from across the city’s legendary grassroots music industry, we have shown why having a Night Czar is so important for London. ”

The Mayor pictured with his Night Czar, shortly before she ate him

”Did you ever get busted for boppin’?”

Sunny Hundal, self-publicising tit and possessor of 'Most Punchable Face Of CiF 2007-2008' is tearing his hair out over the creeping authoritarianism of his NuLab masters. Which is nice, for a change, until you look at what's got his goat:

In a recently introduced piece of bureaucracy, the Metropolitan police have started requiring live event producers across London to fill in the innocuous sounding "Form 696".

Here's the catch: it requires four pages of information from event organisers 14 days before it takes place. If you need to make last-minute changes – tough luck, the event can't go ahead. The Met police not only want to know the type of music to be played, but also names, aliases, phone numbers and addresses of performers. It will not only make putting on live bands very difficult for small venues, but also spell the end of impromptu open mic sessions.

Indeed it will, Sunny. And why are the police declaring war on music? Watched ‘Footloose’ too many times?

Not exactly:

Form 696 explicitly singles out musical styles such as R&B, bashment, garage or styles including MCs/DJs as examples of genres that have to be stated if put on. It also required event producers to state the likely racial profile of people attending. When accusations of racial profiling were inevitably raised by the music industry, the Met changed the wording to ask who it was targeted at.

Let me guess – not ‘ABBA’ tribute bands, or choral recitals...

No, it was quite clearly originally aimed at the type of venues where the bouncers ask if you have weapons when you go in. If you reply in the negative, they rummage in their pockets, produce a knife and say ‘There you go, bra...’.

But as always, you can’t just target these known trouble spots and known groups – it has to be ‘racially blind’:

As Martin Rawlings, director of the Pub and Beer Association, rightly told a newspaper a couple of months ago:
"I know of licensees faced with this saying they are just not going to put live music on. Form 696 is being used only in London so far, but there are similar things going on around the country, where the police are asking publicans to sign various protocols. It has gone too far, frankly."

As these things always do.

And given that Sunny Hundal is a race grievance monger par extraordinaire, it’s a bit much for him to start screaming and jumping up and down now, isn’t it...?

I’ll Take The Non-Diverse Night-Time Economy, Thanks…

…you can keep the ‘risk’:

Nightlife in Croydon is suffering from a lack of variety caused by heavy-handed policing, according to frustrated venue owners and residents.

You mean it’s impossible to find a venue where the floor isn’t a little bit sticky with blood?

About thirty people attended a public meeting in the town centre last night to discuss the dire state of Croydon’s night-time economy, a debate prompted by the recent closure of the long-standing Tiger Tiger nightclub.

On the surface it might have appeared an unlikely forum to find solutions to the issue; more people were sipping lattes than beer or wine, and a reporter covering the meeting was one of the few present aged under 25.

The lack of ethnic diversity of those gathered was also acknowledged by some participants.

Oh noes! Hipsters!

But the ideas and frustrations that emerged from discussions suggested an acute awareness of the problems that face the after-hours landscape of Croydon.

The major theme to emerge was a dissatisfaction with policing; specifically, a perceived bias against venues putting on events playing certain types of music, including hip-hop, grime, and reggae.

The requirement for 'risk assessment' 696 forms made it harder to stage such events, venue owners claimed, and a heavy police presence when they did go ahead unsettled customers and dissuaded them from coming back.

Ah, I see. We’re back to that old chestnut, are we?

Look, of course the police are going to turn up mob handed when these sorts of events are staged. They don’t need to form a cordon outside productions of ‘Der Fliedermaus’, or the local choral recital’s free Christmas Carol concert in the church hall, because trouble rarely breaks out there. But outside these sort of events, it often does.

You can call it ‘racial profiling’ if you want to, but I prefer the term ‘risk assessment’.

Labour councillor Mark Watson, while defending the work of police in the borough, recognised that there might a need for change.

He said: “There might be a risk, but you might need that to create a diverse night-time economy.

"We're concerned that a line of police officers can be off-putting to people, but their view is they want to be on-hand."

Thanks awfully, Mark, but I’ll take a bland homogenised safe event over a diverse and vibrant one any time.