around the world with mr. punch

This is a continuation of the tale begun in an earlier posting (Jan 28th) about Mr. Punch and the bureaucracy in Brighton. An official decision was handed down 'declining the offer' of Mr. Punch performing on the seafront. A wonderful piece of council gibberish in a town with an official busker-friendly policy and to whom no 'offer' had been made - purely an attempt to negotiate their labyrinth of obfuscation and obstruction. I responded to the Seafront Development Officer who had signed the email and asked to be told the grounds upon which the decision had been made and said that I would be seeking to have the decision reviewed. I copied the correspondence to an elected councillor who had told me on a previous occasion to contact her if I had difficulties. I told her that now was the time to take her up on the offer. Accordingly - a week later - I was informed that a Councillor X (the name has been with-held to protect him from public scorn) wished to see my show in order to 'inform the decision making process'. Presumably he is the elected councillor who in days gone by would have been Chair of Local Censorship Committee - except that we no longer have them. He was also a councillor I had emailed almost a year ago and who had not deigned to reply. I responded that as I'd been privileged to escort Mr. Punch to - amongst other places - the British Embassy in Moscow, then popping him along to Brighton Town Hall would not be a problem. It would require the said Councillor to act as an honorary seven year old for the duration of the performance (or to have supplied some genuine seven year olds) if the performance were not to be lacking the appropriate atmosphere. Alternatively I could supply a DVD of my performance filmed on the Prom at a different resort. I also supplied some archive photos showing Punch & Judy on the contested seafront and taken from 1909 onwards. Tune in next week for further developments (as they say).