So Aberdeen City Council has announced a code of conduct for buskers.
That's a great beginning, but that's all it is.
The Code outlines the duration for which buskers can perform, the volume level of their performance and where they can play.
But to be honest is it worth the paper it is printed on?
Who is going to enforce the new rules? If a busker is too loud, who is going to make that decision and tell him to turn it down?
City wardens? Police? Not a chance. City wardens take an abrupt about-turn at the sight of any conflict, and police - they have far better things to do.
So basically it's worthless.
And to be honest buskers aren't really the problem. In fact I rather enjoy a decent musician at the right volume, in the right place. Take a bow David Angus outside the Bon Accord Centre in Schoolhill. He sticks to the rules and he's good.
No, it's the preaching outside Marks and Spencer that's the biggest PITA. Way too loud, you can hear it half way up Union Street. And all the preaching ever does is tell us we are going to damnation unless we listen to it. Oh, brother. Does the Council ever stop the preaching polluting the air with excessive noise? Not a chance, too afraid to be called discriminatory against race or religion.
Then there's the idealistic schoolgirl, egged on by her deluded father, who thinks she can sing like Leona Lewis, though it's more like my cat fighting with its nearest rival for territorial rights in the middle of the night.
So there's the Challenge ACC. Instead of writing conduct codes for the musicians that know how to behave and bring us some pleasure (usually), try writing one to put a stop to the noisy buggers that actually annoy everyone. But no that would never do, would it? Far easier to pick on those that probably behave sensibly anyway than sort out the real troublemakers. Isn't that the way the Council always works?
Your mission: Extend the Busker Code to include singers and preachers and find someone to enforce it.
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