About 2 months ago I forwarded an e petition to everyone i could regarding the governments new plans to make mandatory the use and installation of noise control devices in ALL music venues across the country!
If you’ve never seen one of these devices they basically cut the power to the stage mains supply if the noise in the venue rises above a certain level, on principal a good idea – THE PROBLEM IS – I’ve seen these units set so that the normal background noise of people chatting can set them off and BOOM – no music, no band, no venue!
So there was an en e petition on the “number 10″ website, i signed it and so did a lot of people i know and contacted AND THEN a few days ago i got a reply in my inbox saying the government had responded to the petition and here’s the opening line from the response;
“We are pleased to tell you that there is no truth in claims that the Government is planning to introduce a requirement for entertainment venues to fit noise control devices.”
This is a great response, its a bit panto (“oh no we didn’t!, oh yes we did!) but it shows that (irony warning!) if we make enough noise we can be heard and you should take every opportunity to tell your government what to do with your tax money (or your parents tax money) 
And just so you know, I only do politics when it comes knocking on my door so don’t worry, normal guitary blogs will resume immediately.
thanks for checking back guys,
JD