Flyer-ony: bad law, sarcastic response. February 11, 2009

In a new act of backwardness and an attempt to reach targets on the amount of litter on the streets, Sheffield City Council have picked an easy, enforceable target: flyers. Handing out flyers in the city centre is now illegal and punishable by fines of up to £2,500. However, it is possible to purchase an annual license granting you the right to distribute on behalf of a particular venue. Starting at £75 for 1 person, and climbing steeply to around £700 for 5 people, these are beyond the reach of all but the largest venues and promoters who will continue to fill the streets with promotions for Vodka Headfuck, Get Twatted!, and our favourite night VomittedKebabinthebackofacabmixedwithcheapvodkaonaprimarkdress shinyshoozecoveredinboozeandpiss.

In addition to being hugely reactionary and insensitive, the law is a really unpleasant display of power; otherwise legal activity in a public place must now be vetted and licensed. It’s also notably ill-executed. There are a number of exemptions which are included so as not to encroach on the minor legal issue of free expression. Literature for the promotion of religious or belief groups, charitable organisations and political purposes are all still entitled to distribute freely in the city centre.

Given this, you have to ask: What if all flyers became political? A new ironic genre of club nights masquerading as political events, promoters chaining themselves to council buildings to tell you about their gigs, appropriate political codewords for those in-the-know; “Recycle More” for dubstep, “Join the Euro” for electro etc. A mass of frivolous revolutionary youth, campaigning for not much in particular. On these pages are flyers for the new political clubbing. 

Given these new laws, I contacted the council to ask how I should make my flyers more political, and at whose discretion the political content would be judged. The reply, though not legally definitive, suggested that publications on behalf of registered political parties would be allowed and this would be recognised by their ‘enforcement officers’. 

This is where it gets interesting. A stupid law should be countered with an equally sarcastic reaction. A flyering license costs several hundred pounds. Legally registering a political party costs £150. All the independent promoters could join as members and publicise their events as meetings of the political party, advertising on behalf of the party, without the need for licenses. Do the maths.

We’re beginning to set this up, and want to know who would be interested. There is a substantial number of promoters this would apply to, and it be an extremely strong riposte to the ignorance of the flyering law. Sheffield’s music scene could be the only one in Britain which is also a political movement.