Unfair to amateur choirs?

[Rolmill]

Has anyone seen any explanation/justification for the discrimination?

No explanation has been provided by the government or DCMS, despite several requests (including from a few MPs following contact from constituents), all of which have so far been fobbed off by bland (and misleading) references to following public health advice. There has been no attempt at all to justify either the volte face itself or its belated timing.

To the best of my knowledge (and that of Declan Costello, who helped organise the research into singing's aerosol impact published last summer) there is no recent scientific research which supports increasing the restrictions on singing indoors whilst at the same time relaxing the restrictions on activities which are likely to encourage shouting or heavy breathing indoors (gyms, darts competitions, pubs, restaurants etc). The research indicated that singing does not produce significantly more aerosols than speaking/shouting at the same volume.

The most plausible explanation of the reverse ferret I have seen points out that the guidance for use of places of worship was amended on 14th May and capped the number of amateur singers in a church choir at six. Possibly someone in DCMS realised belatedly that this would lead to a situation where a church choir was subject to this cap, but a secular group could rehearse in the same church in greater numbers (subject to appropriate risk assessment and Covid safety protocols of course). So the guidance for performing arts was subsequently updated on 18th May in order to remove this inconsistency. Still leaves unexplained why the 'use of places of worship' guidance was tightened in this way, though.

As EnemyoftheStoat' says, the number six is entirely arbitrary in this context and betrays complete ignorance of the practicalities of choral singing.

Sadly, the official petition has fallen well short of the 100,000 signatures required to force a debate. My MP (Tory) hasn't even acknowledged my email on the subject, never mind following it up in any way.

Sorry, rant over...

[Vox Humana]

Anybody who thinks petitions etc will make any difference is deluded, I'm afraid.

This is true, unfortunately. Most petitions get no further than a routine response from civil servants who are tasked with dead-batting any meaningful progress by a simple regurgitation of official policy (sometimes just cut-and-pasted from a departmental website). I doubt whether MPs ever become aware of these. Should a petition get enough votes to be debated in the House of Commons, the debate will come to a similar end through government manipulation or simple lack of commitment. Online petitions sound wonderfully democratic, but they are in fact just a waste of time and taxpayers' money. They were only ever a cynical ruse to garner a few brownie points from a gullible electorate.

[Dave2002]

Anybody who thinks petitions etc will make any difference is deluded, I'm afraid.

You are probably right - most of the time. Similarly for government "Consultations" which are often timed to come out in the summer when many people are away. Often the conclusions appear to have been written well before the consultations start. Many of the submitted documents are either not read, or else deliberately misinterpreted. Usually it is not possible counter the response, which goes something like this: "Thank you for your participation in the consultation. Your views were considered, but do not coincide with the views of many of the other respondents. Policy will be based on the totality of responses." Etc., etc, ... and of course there is no answer because one will not know what the other views were, or who suggested them.

However, sometimes ..................................

[cloughie]

Currently in Cornwall the Covid infection rate is 3 in 100000 or 15 in the whole of the county. By what criteria would an indoor rehearsal or performance by an amateur choir, all members of which have had their second injection, carried out in ‘covid safe’ conditions - ie audience and choir socially distance with masked audience, be dangerous? More significantly any more dangerous than a professional choir?

[oddoneout]

Currently in Cornwall the Covid infection rate is 3 in 100000 or 15 in the whole of the county. By what criteria would an indoor rehearsal or performance by an amateur choir, all members of which have had their second injection, carried out in ‘covid safe’ conditions - ie audience and choir socially distance with masked audience, be dangerous? More significantly any more dangerous than a professional choir?

Or any more dangerous than all those visitors crowding in from all over?

[cloughie]

Or any more dangerous than all those visitors crowding in from all over?

Exactly!