According to reports in The Scotsman, the Scottish Executive is to create a so-called 'adult entertainment tsar' to toughen the rules governing strip clubs, sex shops and cinemas. Private booths in lap dancing clubs will be banned under new laws to be unveiled next week.
The new licensing bill is expected to include a number of restrictions, such as CCTV monitoring and no touching between customer and performer. Hollyrood sources have confirmed the bill will go as far as banning private booths, where many prudes fear sex is often for sale.
The new group on the adult entertainment industry will be headed by Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman Linda Costelloe Baker. Anti-sex Glasgow City Council deputy leader Jim Coleman is expected to join the group which will consult with everyone from women's groups to strip club owners (no prizes for guessing who they'll listen to most), commission research into the effects of the trade and identify ways to control it. Sex-hating Glasgow nationalist MSP and women's rights campaigner Sandra White said she did not see the point in another expert group. She said: "The Executive could save time, effort and money by simply changing the legislation to allow councils to classify lap dancing clubs the same way as they do sex shops" (or perhaps simply allow consenting adults to enjoy themselves without interference?). Finance Minister Tom McCabe said "the Executive intends to take a stronger approach to adult entertainment activity, including lap dancing, recognising the concerns being expressed about it."
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Scotland's first lap dancing club has gone bust. Fantasy Club owner Joe Park has been declared bankrupt and the club has shut down, along with two other venues owned by Park. Around 15 staff at the three bars have lost their jobs.
The Fantasy Bar became nationally known when it became the setting for a docu-soap on Channel 4 a few years ago.

Immodesty Blaize And Walter's Burlesque!, will open at the Arts Theatre on May 3rd, following previews from April 20th, and is scheduled to run until June 18th.
D directed by Jane Gibson, designed by David Roger and produced by Andrew Sutton, Edward Snape and Trevor Beattie, the show stars - as you may have guessed - modern day burlesque stars Immodesty Blaize and Walter, and also features "Five Spectacular Showgirls, pianist Rod Melvin, the hilarious and poignant clowning of Mr Spike Loons and a giant, eight foot high rocking horse." The most outrageously dressed audience members will be invited to the cafe seating at the front of the stalls where they will find themselves part of the entertainment themselves. Tickets are available now.