MPs reject call to ban internet ticket touts

Once again, after much debate a government committee has done sweet FA. In this case, they have rejected the idea of banning online ticket touts, despite recognising that there are "dubious practices" in place among some agencies. Instead they have recommended that artists and venues profit from the proceeds of these inflated ticket sales. Stupidly, they seem to have targetted sites such as ebay, rather than the organised touting agencies which buy tickets in bulk purely in order to sell on at huge profits.

The simplest solution would have been to make the selling of tickets above face value an offence. But no, we've got the usual ineffectual waffle.

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis made the frankly daft suggestion of pre-registering and putting photos on tickets, which doesn't seem really practical - can you imagine the queues at venues as everyone has their photo checked on entering? It's one thing to pre-register for a big festival, quite another for a gig in a smaller venue where you may not decide months in advance that you're going.

One thing's for certain, organised online touting will continue to blight the concert-going experience in this country.