Policing and Crime Bill

There was quite an interesting example recently of the possible difficulty of definition in a show which some of your Lordships may have seen. It was called "La Clique" and showed on Shaftesbury Avenue. It was, in effect, a series of circus acts. One scene involved a lady taking off all her clothes. It was mostly singing and circus acts, and it should fall nowhere near the definition of the Bill. Everyone who went to see it certainly went along to be entertained, but I would be incredibly doubtful as to whether anyone went along with the idea of being sexually stimulated. Nevertheless, there was stripping and nudity. I do not think that you could call it pole dancing; it was more like rope dancing because it involved trapeze acts and so on. It would be appalling if that sort of show, which was very well known and understood, fell anywhere near the sort of definition that is described here. The Government always get into a bit of a problem here. The noble Lord, Lord West, did well to stay out of our debates in a previous Committee when we had to discuss sexual stimulation and pornography. I wish that I could stay out of it at the moment. The Government never do well when they get into the question of what is sexually stimulating. The noble Earl, Lord Ferrers, raised a very good point—it is so subjective, it is not a good idea to legislate for it. As far as we can, we should keep the wording of the Bill as objective as possible.