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.