Strict new licensing laws are being introduced to tackle the problem of violence in London's clubland in a document known as 'Form 696'. Under the new laws, clubs such as Fabric and Turnmills will be ordered to provide police with names, addresses, telephone numbers and aliases of any act to take the stage. The policy also requires organisers to declare the musical genre of event they're running. Observer columnist Henry Porter has slammed the move this week stating "Tolerance, respect, fairness and shared values are being vanquished by the police and replaced by bullying, oppressive officialdom," he said. "You see evidence in ID cards issued to foreigners, the banning notices handed to football fans in Manchester who had caused no trouble whatsoever, but were detained and forcibly bussed back to Stoke-on-Trent without seeing their match. And also in the Metropolitan Police's Form 696, which requires venues and club managers in London 'to report to the police the names, addresses, aliases and telephone numbers of performers'. More worryingly, Form 696… demands the venue define 'the ethnicity of their audience," he added.

The steps can only act to deter the staging of live music events adding further red tape to an industry already full of bureaucracy.

Tayor @ 16 Dec 2008 23:06

yeah i heard about this last week from some cockneys. it seems like they are gonna target certain clubs , venues and scenes more than others, and this is best way of doing it . i dont think its gonna be a universal 'all clubs & venues are bad' kinda policy if that makes sense