The LibDems want to ban the playing of music on mobille phones’ loudspeakers on public transport, with fines of up to £,1000. Other countries have already imposed such bans and are enforcing them. Earlier this year a man was fined €200 (£170) by rail staff for making a phone call on loudspeaker in a quiet area of Nantes station in France. In support of their proposal, the Lib Dems commissioned polling that revealed 38% of people had experienced people playing loud music from their phones. The polling by Savanta found that 54% of people said they would not feel safe asking someone to turn down their music on public transport, a figure rising to 63% among women. Lisa Smart, the party’s home affairs speaker, said: ‘Far too many people dread their daily commute because of the blight of antisocial behaviour – and headphone dodgers playing loud music on buses and trains are some of the worst offenders.’ The Conservatives have said they may support the LibDem amendment. 

All of which shows that at least some MPs are concerned about piped music. Never has there been a better time to write to your own MP about it!

In The Sunday Times for 6 April the renowned journalist Dominic Lawson hailed the decision by Judge John Law to ‘control the appalling amplified din of buskers’ in Leicester Square which had been tormenting people in the area for years. Judge Law ruled that very repetitive, loud and badly played ‘busking is akin to torture…. The sound was intense. The volume levels made communication with others nearby nearly impossible .’ Judge Law was finding in favour of Global Radio and against Westminster City Council which had refused to do anything about the noise made by ultra-amplified buskers in Leicester Square in the heart of London. The Council has repeatedly declined to control noise in London, for example allowing cacophonous busking just outside the Church of St Martins in the Fields in Trafalgar Square, so disrupting services and concerts in the church. Busking at this volume resembles piped music, because it is inescapable, very loud and almost non-stop. The problem is not busking per se but the amplifiers used to bombard those nearby. These have become smaller, cheaper and far more powerful. Many years ago Julian Lloyd Webber, the great cellist, supported the introduction of busking in public places, including London Underground. But in those days buskers had no amplifiers. The change comes from a combination of misused technology and a supine, inadequate local council. Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, encourages amplified music at any volume across London, in this carrying on the policies of Boris Johnson who, as mayor, tried to make London the ‘busking capital of the world.’

Happily other councils in Britain are more enlightened and active. Manchester council stipulates that ‘buskers must not be present for more than 90 minutes in any one location’ and must not return within 24 hours. In Edinburgh buskers are asked to move on after half an hour and in Keswick buskers are not permitted to use amplification at all. Unfortunately, the police seldom enforce such sanity-saving laws.

Noise has been called ‘the invisible killer’ by Professor Charlotte Clark of St George’s University, University of London. ‘It is a public health crisis because we have got huge numbers of people exposed in their everyday lives.’ Noise is causing heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and dementia, insidiously affecting people even when they sleep. While no one in government wants to talk about it, ‘there is really good evidence that traffic noise affects heart health.’ she says. Only the cheerful sounds of the playground have a good effect on the body.

We have an ’emotional response to sound,’ says Professor Clark. Noise, detected by the ear, is passed onto the brain. One part of the brain, the amygdala, makes an immediate emotional assessment. If the noise seems threatening, the heart rate goes up and the nervous system is activated to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This increases heart rate, blood pressure and general inflammation in the body. ‘If you’re exposed like this over several years, your body is reacting all the time. This increases your risk of developing things like heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes and Type 2 diabetes. You never turn off your ears. When you are asleep, you are still listening. ‘

A NEW PETITION TO PARLIAMENT HAS BEEN STARTED. DO SIGN!

A petition to Parliament calling for ambient music to be banned from certain public places, principally hospitals and medical centres, has been started by Pipedown member James Lawrence.https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/704210/sponsors/new?token=HLdF9dtG58aU7yq8wee8

He argues: Hospitals and public transport, which almost everyone at times has to use, should always be places free of unnecessary extra noise. Private concerns, which most of also have at times to use, such as supermarkets, should also be discouraged from assaulting customers and staff with continual noise.

It has long been established that loud, aggressive ambient music can cause psychological and hearing damage and generally cause people stress. It is a form of psychological pollution, just as smoking pollutes the lungs.

More than half of MPs in the House of Commons are new. Many will never have given a moment’s thought to the problems caused by noise in general and by piped music in particular. Now is the time to write your MP (you can only write to the MP of your own constituency) about noise problems, while the MP. is still relatively fresh and not overwhelmed by floods of requests. Mention the points listed in the Fact Sheet and also in the varied on-line posts. Ask them if they would be interested in coming to a meeting about noise pollution. And please let Pipedown know their replies.

Reports have been coming in that some branches of Lidl – the famously cheap and up to now famously muzac-free supermarket chain – have recently installed piped music. (Other people shopping at Lidlt have not discovered this – not yet,) Whether this is an experiment with just a few branches or the beginning of a nationwide plan to inflict muzac on shoppers and staff alike in all Lidl stores is not yet apparent, What is clear is that this needs concerted protest now,

Write to Lidl’s CEO Mr Ryan McDonnell at ryan.mcdonnell@lidl.co.uk to protest – vehemently, cogently but politely – against this ill-conceived move. Point out all the usual drawbacks of piped music – see the Fact Sheet and recent newsletters. Also stress that one of Lidl’s USPs has always been its peaceful atmosphere. If this is wrecked, the many people who find piped music intolerable, including all those with autism, ME, hyperacusis and other hearing problems are going to avoid Lidl’s stores like the plague.