Lap Dances on the Parliament

The Guardian's Sandrine Levêque sounded off on Britain's growing number of strip clubs today. Since 2003, a clever little government loophole lumped the regulation of strip clubs in with "regular" bars which, of course, resulted in the industry practically doubling since 2004. Leveque points out that we're not alone in our leaders making dirty with women of the night—the Conservative party of Birmingham was even handing out lap-dance vouchers to their party members! With a society where rape is one of the least convicted crimes and victims are still being blamed for their assaults, Leveque writes, when will these strip clubs be regulated? Hopefully soon. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Minister for Women and Equality Harriet Harman just announced that local municipalities will have greater sway when it comes to regulating these clubs so a business man spending a sneaky lunch hour is monitored differently that a kid singing "Like A Prayer."