Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has signed a nasty bill that will massively restrict strip clubs and other adult businesses.

The bill, sponsored by nutter Senator Matt Bartle is very similar to the one passed in 2005, but was overturned in state courts.

The bill restricts placement of adult businesses, including strip clubs and certain bookstores. It also limits the amount of nudity at strip clubs, bans alcohol sales at these establishments and limits hours of operation.

Adult business owners said the bill will be devastating to the adult industry. Mike Ocello, president of VCG Holding, which owns adult businesses, said he will likely be the plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to declare the law unconstitutional: I'm very disappointed by the governor's decision.

The Texas Republican Party have turned extremist..

The party has voted on a platform that would ban oral and anal sex. It also would give jail sentences to anyone who issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple (even though such licenses are already invalid in the state).

We oppose the legalization of sodomy, the platform says. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.

In addition, the platform says that homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit and leads to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases. It also states that homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle in public schools and family should not be redefined to include homosexual couples.

The 25-page proposal, presented last week as a guide for the state party over the next two years, includes other measures including outlawing sexually oriented businesses like strip clubs and banning all pornography.

A British man has died following a BDSM session with a woman who boasts she is Europe's most perverted dominatrix.

The man collapsed in a shower after an intense session with Mistress Lucrezia and her assistant Mistress Juno at their villa near Brecht, Belgium.

The two women, whose website says they specialise in administering extreme pain, called an ambulance after their unnamed customer died.

Lucrezia and Juno were both arrested and charged with assault and battery leading to death, without intent to kill. The Antwerp prosecutor said the man could have died after being given nitrous oxide, used as an anaesthetic to prolong sex sessions.

Mistress Lucrezia, who has been running her dungeon in a detached house in the quiet village of Sint-Job-in-'t-Goor for five years, was also a much sought-after mistress in British bondage clubs, the Belga news agency said.

Her website says she has performed at Club Rub and Club Subversion in London, and also holds sessions at a studio described as Mistress Katya's in Warwickshire. Mistress Lucrezia informs potential customers on her site that she offers bondage, humiliation, torture, education and cross-dressing.

Three New South Wales adult shops were raided by state police last week as part of a continuing crack down on adult entertainment by the government. So far this year, over a dozen adult retail, wholesale and production outlets around the country have been raided and had their stock confiscated, under direction from the federal Attorney General's department.

There are at least another dozen in the pipeline. Last month a Sydney adult shop owner became the first person to be sent to jail in modern times for a censorship offence.

Last month also saw Victoria's largest producer of X18+ material, Abby Winters.com, prosecuted for making X18+ films. They are currently relocating to a more tolerant European country.

Australian Sex Party President, Fiona Patten, said the raids were an outrageous undermining of the federal government's own Classification Act. Officers from the Attorney General's department are, on the one hand, classifying X18+ films for all Australians to sell and possess and then turning around and dobbing in adult shops, websites and producers in the states who deal in this product, she said.

The federal government should be supporting the spirit and principles of its own legislation rather than the outdated and highly politicised laws of other jurisdictions.

She said that there was evidence to support the notion that this was in part, a revenge attack, emanating out of the Federal Attorney General's office, following her party's much publicised opposition to the proposed internet filter and the sneaky back door inclusion of pornography on traveller's Incoming Passenger Cards.

Patten said that despite the activities of the Federal Attorney General's office, in concert with local police forces, the Australian Sex Party would not back down on its campaign against the alarming escalation of a conservative moral agenda from both major parties .

Soho is losing its unique atmosphere because of crackdowns on vice and an influx of chain restaurants, according to historians.

BBC presenter Dan Cruickshank is leading calls for Westminster council and police to stop trying to sanitise the district.

The council has announced a drive against drug dealers, street prostitutes and unlicensed sex shops, as well as drunken and anti-social behaviour, in an attempt to 'clean up' the area before the expected influx of visitors for the 2012 Olympics.

A police operation this month led to 50 arrests. More than 60 pedicabs have been seized and some £500,000 of illegal pornography destroyed following 22 raids on unlicensed sex shops.

But historians and residents say late-night revelry and all that goes with it are part the area's character. Cruickshank, who presented Around the World in 80 Treasures on BBC2, said: Soho is almost beyond recovery and I find it rather heartbreaking. Now it attracts chain shops, chain bars and chain restaurants and is no longer unconventional or curious. If the drunk and disorderly are people who come from outside as somewhere to hang out it's not on. But equally, a sense of wildness and inventive roughness creates some artistic individuals who do some interesting things.

Soho is still home to celebrated bars, clubs and restaurants, and is the hub of London's gay scene. Cruickshank said sex shops had long been part of the local scene.

It seems that officers of Hackney council have been visiting the some of the strip pubs in that borough telling them that they are going to close them down for no reason other than that they can under the Harperson laws.

London's strip pub scene is centred east of the City of London and much of it falls under the administration of the Borough of Hackney. Some of the pubs have been open for between 15 and 40 years.

One small section of a crowd of 40,000

There's just no boom boom in Joburg's sex industry. Sex workers hoping to turn a quick buck when thousands of horny soccer fans descended on the city for the World Cup say they have been disappointed.

And while some upmarket strip clubs say business has been good, others have been forced to cancel shows.

Even metered taxi drivers delivering girls to tourists say business has died down.

In the months leading up to the World Cup, there was mounting expectation that prostitution would peak. Ludicrous reports suggested that up to 40 000 sex workers would be brought into the country to satisfy the demand for sex.

On the streets this week, the winter chill and increased police visibility meant fewer sex workers on the strip. Visits during peak cruising hours, around 9pm, to the traditional red-light areas of Oxford Street, Illovo and Sandton found fewer than 10 sex workers roaming around in skimpy skirts.

One sex worker, in her seventh year on the streets, said the tourists were boring. We have not had any luck. I usually make R4 500 a month. I was hoping I would cash in R15 000, but it has been quiet.

She had been approached by some Mexican tourists, who would have given her $500 for the night - but when she arrived at the hotel in Sandton, security refused her entry: The securities have been making our lives hard. They say they don't want girls in their hotels.

A metered cab driver said that while he had requests at the beginning of the tournament to get girls, when he brought the girls to the men, they could not agree on a price, and the girls left: They say they're being ripped off. I've stopped organising them girls because of this. I've not had any further requests since then.

Paula at Executive Shows, which provides exotic dancers for adult entertainment clubs, said business had been terrible. Since the World Cup began, the roughly 300 clubs across Gauteng for whom she books girls have cancelled shows: Guys would rather watch soccer. I am counting down the days until the end.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Gigi, owner of Lollipop Lounge, said her club has been abuzz with foreigners. She said patrons usually arrived after the last game of the night. It seems they are watching the game together and then coming out to party afterwards. After 11pm it gets busy.

Western Australia is set to legalise prostitution in a bid to improve health standards and keep brothels out of residential areas.

Hundreds of suburban brothels are expected to close when WA Attorney-General Christian Porter ends decades of turning a blind eye and starts regulating the sex industry next year.

Prostitution is illegal in WA but police rarely lay charges unless they are related to underage sex or unsafe practices.

After nearly two years in power Porter says he is working to release a paper for public comment by the end of the year and introduce legislation into parliament in 2011.

Under the new legislation, brothels will be licensed and confined to designated commercial and industrial areas, and police will be given powers to investigate and forcibly close those which fail to comply.

Sex businesses will need to follow health and safety standards to obtain and maintain their licences. Individual sex workers will need to register with a central agency and will undergo compulsory health and blood checks. They may also be required to carry ID cards.

Porter said suburban operators would be given a grace period from next year to either close or move to a licensed area. Applications for brothels would first be put to local councils and then assessed by state regulators.

WA brothel madams welcomed the move over the weekend but feared the bid to register individual prostitutes would drive some underground. While most agreed the new regulations would improve health and safety in the industry, they said some sex workers would be loathe to have their personal records on file.

A new report by Amnesty International (and amongst others, nutters from Poppy) has revealed that no one has ever been convicted for human trafficking in Scotland, despite dozens of arrests of people in connection with prostitution.

Two years ago, 35 people were arrested during raids in which 15 suspected trafficked women were discovered. However, the report, Wrong Kind Of Victim?, says: Of the 35 who were arrested, 18 were convicted but for offences related to immigration or prostitution. [Presumably because they weren't actually being coerced, but were working consensually and had taken liberties with prostitution law and immigration procedures]

The rather selective human rights organisation has now called for closer examination of the reasons behind Scotland's failure to secure any trafficking convictions. Amnesty's Scotland programme director, John Watson, said more than 100 people were convicted of trafficking in England and Wales.

The UK-wide report said measures to protect victims of people smuggling are not fit for purpose and accused the British Government of breaching its obligations under European law to protect trafficked people and uphold minimum standards of care.

The report recommends that information-sharing protocols between the UK's police and law enforcement agencies be developed to improve the likelihood of securing convictions of traffickers in Scotland. And the Scottish Government should establish protocols with the UK Government to collect and publish data on the extent of human trafficking north of the border.

The organisation also called for the provision of safe accommodation and support for trafficked people across Scotland.

The United States has added Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos and Maldives to its human trafficking watch list, accusing them of failing to prevent women from being forced into prostitution.

The move opens the way for the United States to cut off some civilian assistance, although it usually functions as a symbolic means to pressure countries to take action.

The report claims 12.3 million people were the victims of trafficking in 2009-2010. Previous estimates have been widely discredited, as the US seems to consider nearly all prostitutes in the world as 'trafficked'.

Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka remained on the list, unchanged from a year earlier. North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking. Malaysia stays on the list but escaped the lowest category of countries that do not meet minimum standards.

The State Department recognized improvements in Pakistan, which was taken off the watch list. Taiwan was upgraded and listed as fully compliant in efforts against human trafficking after starting new services for victims. Australia, New Zealand and South Korea were also listed as fully compliant.

Explaining the downgrade for Singapore, the report said that some women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment and coerced into the sex trade.

The State Department said that Thailand was a source, destination and transit point for trafficking, with ethnic minorities and citizens of neighboring countries at particular risk of sexual abuse or forced labor.

Green Euro-MPs want to ban the use of PVC in electrical goods for environmental reasons.

The move is aimed at old-fashioned mobile phones and dishwashers. But it would also mean a massive Rabbit cull.

The European Parliament's Environmental Committee is looking to put PVC on a list of materials that are not allowed to be used in electrical goods. They say it is environmentally unfriendly and particularly harmful when it ends up in landfill sites.

It would spell the end of PVC vibrators like some of the Rampant Rabbit range. Official documents from the European Parliament admit there are problems with finding alternative materials for some products.

An impact assessment report states: Some of these alternative materials proved unsuitable because of certain properties such as lacking flexibility or bad odour.

A European Parliament spokesman said the move was aimed at white goods. But he admitted it would hit sex toys too. In theory sex toys would be included, he said. Electrical goods end up in landfill sites often in developing countries and that is a problem.

Sri Lanka police raided hundreds of guesthouses, hotels, karaoke clubs and motels in Colombo city and the immediate suburbs, rounding up hundreds of couples, and even couples on beaches.

The pre-dawn raids were carried out under the government's supposed anti-vice programme - a killjoy campaign against pornography, adult movies and prostitution across the country.

A senior police officer said the crackdown comprised of raids across the country, in which hundreds of couples were arrested and produced in court on charges of indecent behaviour.

The police have also pulled down hoardings and banners at cinema halls that carry supposedly undesirable images. The police officer said the raids would be extended to cover places that sell illicit alcoholic beverages and narcotics or drugs.

The police checked more than 1,500 guesthouses and similar venues, and gave the owners and operators stern warnings. The senior police officer said the government was bent on eradicating vice, and that raids would be carried out on a daily basis.

Visitors to porn sites are at serious risk of being exploited by cyber criminals, a study has suggested.

It found that many sites harboured malware or used shady practices to squeeze money out of their visitors.

By creating their own porn sites researchers found that many consumers were vulnerable to known bugs and vulnerabilities.

Competition among porn sites makes the online adult industry ripe for abuse by hi-tech criminals.

They have almost inadvertently created a whole ecosystem that's easy to abuse for cyber crime on a large scale, said Dr Gilbert Wondracek, a computer security expert from the International Secure System Lab, which led the study. Hidden danger

Dr Wondracek said the team embarked on the study to find out the truth of the widely held view that porn sites are dangerous to visit

,,,Read the full article

The US woman convicted of offering sex for baseball World Series tickets has been sentenced to one year's probation.

Susan Finkelstein was convicted in March of attempted prostitution. She was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

Last year, she placed an online ad on Craigslist seeking tickets for a Philadelphia Phillies game.

She was caught after meeting an undercover policeman who responded to the ad.

Judge Albert Cepparulo called Finkelstein's crime incredibly stupid, saying her ad could have left her vulnerable to a predator, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The judge suggested she spent her community service speaking to groups of women about the dangers of the internet.

Finkelstein said she had wanted to get tickets to take her husband to the opening game of the World Series - in which the Phillies beat the New York Yankees 6-1.

Australia's Northern Territories Government has rejected a call for brothels to be opened in the Territory.

Chief Minister Paul Henderson said the idea wouldn't be considered.

And a Christian nutter group came out strongly against legalising brothels in the NT.

The Australian Christian Lobby said the NT should adopt the Swedish model - and make it a criminal offence to buy sex or run a brothel.

ACL Managing director Jim Wallace claimed the new laws there led to the number of women involved in prostitution being cut by two-thirds, the number of men buying sex falling by 80% and a huge drop in women being smuggled into the country for prostitution.

The NT Sex Workers Outreach Program has called for legal brothels. Program organiser Seranna Shutt said: That would be best practice for health and safety.

There are about 50 sex workers in the Territory, most operating from a Darwin escort agency.All agency women must be registered with police.

Ms Shutt said the registration system should be scrapped because personal details were kept by police forever.

Wallace said the Government should reject the call for brothels: Legalising brothels does nothing to address the appalling exploitation of women in the sex industry, but instead dramatically increases the problem, as well as increasing trafficking in women.

Wallace claimed the NT system of licensed escort agencies didn't work either.

Miami Living magazine has published an ad featuring the shadow of a penis.

The ad, for dating service EstablishedMen.com, appears in the magazine's Spring/Summer issue, which features Courteney Cox on its cover. It features two lingerie-clad women; a penis-shaped shadow appears over the chest of one of the women. The circle and arrow were added by FoxNews.com are not in the original advert.

Did they not see this, or have magazines become so desperate for ad space that they'll 'overlook' something like this? media and publishing 'expert' Penny C. Sansevieri asked FoxNews.com: But I find that every time something like this happens it elevates the exposure, good or bad - and issues will get snapped up very quickly.

A rep for the dating site told FoxNews.com that they never expected the ad to be approved:

When we created the ad, we never imagined a magazine like Miami Living would approve it, but judging by the amount of sign-ups we received since the magazine has come out, this 'shadow penis' ad seems to work and might become a staple of our campaign, the rep said.

The magazine has apologized for running the penis shadow ad. In a statement to Fox News, editor-in-chief Vanessa Pascale said:

This was just now brought to our attention. Miami Living magazine would like to apologise for not noticing the image. We hope that our audience recognises that we were just as surprised as they were to find this out. I myself have looked over the magazine dozens of times [prior to this being brought to my attention] and did not detect anything hidden in the ad, which leads me to believe that establishedmen.com must have tipped someone off as a publicity stunt. We trusted them as an advertiser. Miami Living magazine intends to review future ads more carefully so that something like this does not happen again.

Thousands of mass killers enjoying Pattaya nightlife

Since Bird killed 12 people last week, there has been widespread incredulity that this mild-mannered (according to some accounts) man could have harboured such lethal rage. The search for his motive focused first on a supposed family feud, moved on to a row with other taxi drivers and has even encompassed being made a fool of by a Thai woman.

Bird travelled regularly to Pattaya in southern Thailand and acquaintances describe him as in love with the woman, who is said to have accepted at least £1,000 from him before breaking off the relationship by text. I am far from satisfied with these accounts

...

Pattaya, the resort Bird visited regularly, isn't a beach paradise. It's a centre of Thailand's deeply exploitative sex trade, where foreign men go to pay for sex – it costs as little as £10 – with young Thai girls and women who have been forced into it by poverty. Here is the account of a barman, Chris Bulmer, who knew Bird and witnessed his transactions with women who worked as prostitutes:

He slept with a few of my girls upstairs and soon got a taste for it … But in the end he would only want to see one young lady in particular. She was about 22 and pretty. He became obsessed. He loved her and whenever he came back he would immediately find her, compensate the bar [probably he said 'pay the bar fine'] and take her away. She was his. And that was how he saw it.

The barman told the Sun that Bird was besotted and fell into a rage if the young woman wasn't available whenever he wanted her. In the end, according to Bulmer, she became terrified of Bird and ran away.

...

The widespread cultural imperative to normalise sex tourism by Western men in south-east Asia is a barrier to admitting how damaging the trade is to women. But it also does something else: prevent us from seeing at an earlier stage that there is something very seriously wrong with men like Bird.

 ...Read the full article

Porn star and Playboy model Brigitta Bulgari has been jailed facing child sex charges – after letting the audience grope her during a nightclub show only to find that two 15 year old boys had taken part.

The 27-year-old Hungarian star, real name Brigitta Kocsis, was remanded in custody after Italian judges saw videos of goggle-eyed teenagers touching her intimately during the performance in Perugia – which the boys had uploaded to Facebook.

I think the judge is just biased against sexy women, fumed her lawyer: Brigitta was just doing her job – dancing. But she has to stay behind bars. She has no criminal record, whereas the owner of the disco, who employed her and let the young boys in was set free.'

Young Blaggers

Thanks to Alan:

It seems that Ms Bulgari has been charged with public indecency and producing pornography involving minors, although the only pornography appears to be the clips uploaded by the kids themselves. The show was a a kind of rather vigorous striptease, without the no touching rules imposed in some lap-dancing establishments. The kids seem to have blagged their way into the show, and several people have commented on Italian websites that the woman could hardly have been expected to check their ID cards in mid-show.

The presence of the kids was: (a) their own fault, (b) their parents' fault, (c) the venue's fault, (d) the organizer's fault, and (e) the bouncers' fault, but hardly the performer's. You can see an example of her shows at YouTube with links to other similar performances.

A Free Brigitta site (in Italian) has been opened including a petition intended for Italian citizens.

It's interesting to see on the petition page that Giuliano Mignini is the prosecutor (pubblico ministero) involved. Mignini is eccentric, to put it mildly, and no fan of freedom of speech in any field. He is the prosecutor in the Amanda Knox case and is currently prosecuting her again for defamation of the police, for WHAT SHE SAID IN EVIDENCE IN HER OWN DEFENCE.

He has crossed swords with the American writer Douglas Preston and his Italian co-author Mario Spezi, who questioned his competence in the Monster of Floernce murder case, actually having him arrested.

Comment: Bail Irony

7th June 2010. Thanks to Alan
See Amanda Knox head prosecutor charged with 'abuse of power' from westseattleherald.com

It is ironic to note that while the unfortunate Brigitta is remanded on custody, although as yet found guilty of no offence, the prosecutor Mignini is on bail awaiting appeal after being sentenced to jail for abuse of power in another case.

Italian jurisprudence is arguably dysfunctional in any event, with a symbiotic relationship betweeen investigating magistrates (giudici per le indagini preliminarie), prosecutors (pubblici ministeri) and police/carabinieri likely to lead to dodgy convictions in any case. But it beggars belief that a prosecutor convicted of a criminal offence related to his office should remain at work and actually prosecute a case like the Kercher murder, where the victim, two of the three accused and the eliminated suspect were foreigners - guaranteeing the attention of the foreign press.

Update: Got Bail

29th August 2010. Thanks to Alan

I found some references to her case in Italian language resources by using Google. It would also appear that the unfortunate stripper thrown in an Italian slammer when some randy little sods got into her show, Brigitta Kocsis AKA Bulgari has got bail.

Update: Bulgari Acquitted

11th October 2011. Thanks to Alan

Recently read on Perugia Shock website that Giuliano Mignin's other young woman victim, the stripper Brigitta Kocsis (aka Brigitta Bulgari) has also been acquitted. [She had been in trouble about a striptease show where an underage spectator was found, but this was nothing to do with the performer].

This guy is a complete nutcase. He was also reported to have prosecuted an English couple who let wild poppies grow in their garden, accusing them of cultivating heroin!

South Australian sex workers have received renewed hope that prostitution will be decriminalised as high-profile supporters get behind their cause.

At a rally on the steps of Parliament House, Labor backbencher Steph Key announced she would introduce a private member's bill to decriminalise the industry.

She hopes draft legislation will be completed by the end of the year and a conscience vote will follow: The aim would be to ensure we have the highest amount of protection for sex workers and their clients.

A poll on AdelaideNow revealed more than 70% of voters believed prostitution should be legalised.

Also supporting industry reform yesterday were Minister for Women Gail Gago, Greens MP Tammy Jennings and Liberal MP Michelle Lensink.

The New South Wales Greens are calling on the State Government to legalise the sale of X-rated material after police raids on two Sydney adult stores.

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon will move a motion in the upper house tomorrow aimed at clearing up the legal contradiction that condones the use of X-rated material, but not its sale. She said:

It's completely illogical for something to be legal to own, but illegal to sell. Until recently, the ban on selling X-rated non-violent erotica was not enforced. This led to it being made freely available in outlets such as newsagents and video stores. The outlets now being raided have a right to shake their heads in wonder.

The Government and Opposition should respect public opinion, get behind the motion and properly regulate the industry. I struggle to think of a less productive use of NSW Police's valuable time than having 15 officers spend an entire day confiscating material that is legal for the public to own.

I will be bringing on a motion for debate in NSW parliament tomorrow, calling on the government to clear up the legal uncertainties around X-rated non-violent erotica.

Moral Crusade

Based on article from sexparty.org.au

Sydney Police have become fixated on closing down Sydney's adult shops with increasingly intensive raids. Last week, two Kings Cross adult shops were raided and 90% of stock was seized. The shops have been closed by police and taped with crime scene tape. All tills and safes were broken open and computers and shop records were all seized. Only lingerie was left. The raids took 15 police officers an entire day to carry out.

Australian Sex Party President, Fiona Patten, said that a Sydney adult shop owner had been sentenced to jail last month for selling federally classified X rated films that had been judged by Commonwealth censors to be suitable for all Australians. The NSW police have spent millions of dollars this year pursuing adult retailers where this money should have been spent on solving murders and dealing with assault and property crimes, she said: I challenge the Premier, the Police Commissioner and Independents in the parliament to deny that their religious beliefs are contributing to this moral crusade. She estimated that the NSW Police had spent $2 million on raiding a dozen adult shops in the last 12 months.

She said last week's raids would have cost the taxpayer at least $100,000 and that the police would now have to spend at least another $20,000 getting the films classified. Most of these films will probably end up being classified as X rated which means they are legal to bring into the country, legal to purchase, legal to possess and legal to sell in the ACT and NT. Just not legal to sell in NSW.

A Bolton Euro MP has called for brothels to be made legal to provide greater security for prostitutes.

Liberal Democrat Chris Davies believes the murders of three prostitutes in Bradford highlight the urgent need for a new approach. He said: It is appalling that two or more prostitutes cannot work together under the same roof for their mutual protection without fear of criminal prosecution. The law does nothing to help keep them safe.

Davies added that local councils should be required to treat the licensing of brothels as a planning issue, following national guidelines to ensure minimum disturbance to residents in the vicinity. He said: It's not a matter of morality, but of practicality. An open approach based on licensing and regulation will be more effective in curbing crime and exploitation.

His comments echo calls for better protection for street workers made last week in The Bolton News by Vanessa Stirling, whose daughter Carly Bateman was murdered while working as a prostitute in the town.

Prime Minister David Cameron last week said the issue of decriminalising prostitution-related offences should be looked at again.

A British man who brought two Thai prostitutes to Somerset to work in the sex trade has been jailed for two years.

Andrew Wallace brought the women, neither of whom could speak English, into the UK, helped them apply for visas, then advertised their services on his website.

Taunton Crown Court heard how Wallace set up liaisons for the women and split the proceeds with the pair, who were given accommodation in Weston.

Laurence Wilcox, defending, told the court neither women was coerced into the UK, and both were established prostitutes who came on their own volition. He also said that, when interviewed, both women said that Wallace had treated them well.

Judge Graham Hume Jones told Wallace: You and everyone else must understand that trafficking is regarded very seriously and is a serious offence under the Criminal Justice Act. He added: The aggravating feature of this case is that there were two women, but a number of mitigating features were that they were in their mid 20s, wanted to come to this country and were already working as prostitutes.

Prime Minister David Cameron has described the murders of three prostitutes in Bradford as a terrible shock.

Speaking to the BBC, the Prime Minister said: I think we have to deal with the causes of this problem. The causes are drug abuse - a massive problem - we've got to get to grips with drug abuse. I think we've also got to do more to get people who are involved in prostitution to have a job to help rebuild their lives.

Also, I think we've got to be much tougher on kerbcrawling. It is illegal, that aspect of it we really should clamp down on.

He said people would want to learn lessons from the case in Ipswich, where lorry driver Steve Wright killed five prostitutes. The police (there) did try new approaches and worked with other agencies to do everything they could to try and deal with the problem, he said.

Asked if prostitution should be decriminalised, Cameron replied: I dare say it should be looked at again. I don't think we should jump to conclusions on this - there are all sorts of problems that decriminalisation would bring.

The first step is learn the lessons of what has worked elsewhere: tough on kerbcrawling, deal with problems of drug abuse, help prostitutes out of this industry, make sure all agencies work together. That would be a good start.

Police in Beijing have arrested more than 1,100 suspects in connection with prostitution rings, many housed in high-end saunas and entertainment venues in China's capital, state press said.

During the one-month crackdown, dozens of high-end nightclubs and karaoke bars were shut down, as well as more than 250 hair salons, the China Daily said.

Customers are usually very rich and they pay at least 20,000 yuan (2,900 dollars) for membership and then they will be eligible for special services, the paper quoted one nightclub manager surnamed Ma as saying.

Police officials claimed that most of the nightlife spots offering prostitutes to clients were run by organised crime gangs. [They probably define organised crime gangs as people who run businesses involving prostitution and the like]

Following 30 years of booming economic growth, prostitution has flourished.

State Senator Matt Bartle's eight-year mean minded quest to crack down on Missouri strip clubs finally succeeded this week.

The state Senate voted 27-4 for legislation that will ban full nudity and prohibit adult businesses from selling alcohol. The clubs also would have to close between midnight and 6 a.m.

Most human beings understand that if you mix alcohol and women dancing in the nude, that's a tough combo, said Bartle: Bad things happen.

The vote, combined with the House's 118-28 vote earlier, sends the bill to Governor Jay Nixon. A spokesman for the Democratic governor said he was inclined to sign it. He is generally supportive of tighter restrictions on these types of businesses, spokesman Jack Cardetti said.

Opponents said if enacted, the new law will almost certainly result in a court challenge. They said the law will hurt all strip clubs and hundreds, and maybe thousands, of workers will lose their jobs.

Under the proposal, the adult entertainment industry would undergo  major restrictions. Juice bars that don't sell alcohol, but present nude dancers would be outlawed. Semi-nude dancers would have to stay at least 6 feet away from patrons and no touching would be allowed.

All that lap dancing stuff, that's gone, Bartle said.

Adult businesses could not operate within 1,000 feet of a school, church, day-care facility, library, park, residence or another adult business. Operators of any adult establishment would have to have an unobstructed view…of every area of the premises.

The bill's passage came on the second to last day of the 2010 session and represented Bartle's last shot at passing a bill because he is retiring from the Senate.

The Australian film-maker planning to auction off virgins in Las Vegas may have to put his plans on hold as he could face legal trouble for human trafficking.

The controversial project initially had to be moved to Las Vegas from Australia to dodge prostitution charges.

But those familiar with the Nevada sex industry now say the project could be stopped if Nevada authorities find it violates human trafficking laws, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Specifically, it could challenge the US Mann Act, which prevents the transport of females across state lines for immoral purposes.

John Sisely, the brain behind the new low in reality-TV, is a Melbourne-based film-maker who plans to turn the auction into a documentary.

Sisely has spent more than a year recruiting male and female virgins willing to auction themselves on camera. Sisely held auditions for the auction in Sydney in 2009, using posters with Virgins Wanted plastered over an image of the Virgin Mary.

Sisely plans to pay each virgin $AU20,000 and they will also receive 90% of their sale price, with the remaining 10% going to the Nevada brothel where the auction will be held. Bids will be placed online before the final auction.

The project has infuriated nutters, with Senator Steve Fielding of the Family First party branding it absurd, ridiculous and disgusting.

Iceland's public prosecutor has issued charges for 11 men who are suspected of having purchased sexual services last year from a woman who is on trial for sex mongering.

This is the first time that such charges have been issued in Iceland since the Althingi parliament passed legislation in 2009 making the purchase of prostitution illegal.

The woman's affairs have been under investigation for a long time. The police have referred 17 cases related to her affairs to the public prosecutor where the law on prostitution is suspected to have been violated.

The woman will remain in custody until June 5. Reykjavík District Court found her guilty of drug smuggling and profiting from the prostitution of others on December 1 and sentenced her to two and a half years in prison, but she appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

If the men who are suspected of purchasing sexual services are found guilty, they might be fined or face up to one year in prison

Some of the country's most celebrated arts bodies have welcomed clarification to new laws designed to crack down on lap-dancing clubs which would have inadvertently prevented them from staging shows featuring nudity.

Nationalist MSP Sandra White has put forward an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill going through Holyrood which would allow local authorities and licensing boards to ban lap-dancing venues in their area.

But organisations such as Scottish Ballet and the Festival Fringe Society had warned that under plans to tighten licensing rules, renowned shows featuring nudity, such as Nic Green's Trilogy, could have been pulled.

Cindy Sughrue, Scottish Ballet's chief executive, had urged the committee to carefully consider the wording of White's amendment, given the potential unintended consequences for theatre companies, who would be unable to show iconic works by world-renowned directors and choreographers.

She said: Nudity, as defined, would rule out presentations of some of the most powerful performance work of the 20th and 21st centuries, including numerous acclaimed productions created and presented in Scotland, including at the Edinburgh International festival.

At a meeting of the Scottish Parliament's injustice committee, politicians echoed such concerns. Robert Brown, Scottish Liberal Democrats justice spokesman, said: For theatrical performances, I'm not sure it presents as clear exemptions as one would hope.

Bill Aitken, his Tory counterpart and the committee's convener, agreed. I do have serious reservations and I don't think the issue of theatrical performances has been satisfactorily resolved.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill told the committee that while communities should be allowed to refuse permission to license the clubs, the government had significant concerns over Ms White's amendment. He said: There are drafting difficulties with the amendment which will have to be addressed.

Ms White accepted an offer of assistance to clarify her amendment, meaning the government will now draft a tighter licensing regime which will come before MSPs when the bill is considered by the full parliament at its final stage.

Craigslist has been subpoenaed by Connecticut's top law enforcement official, who is investigating whether the site is doing enough to get rid of ads for prostitution and other illegal activity.

The demand came from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who is co-heading a group of 39 states that has expressed concern over the ads. In addition to law enforcement agencies, nutter groups, opposed to the mostly hype human trafficking, have also criticized the ads.

Craigslist have estimated that sales this year from adult services will triple to about $36.3m compared with sales from 2009.

The craigslist brothel business seems booming - belying its promise to fight prostitution, Blumenthal said in a statement: The best evidence is thousands of ads that remain on craigslist - skimpily and slickly disguised with code words. We are asking craigslist for specific answers about steps to screen and stop sex-for-money offers - and whether the company is actually profiting from prostitution ads that it promised the states and public that it would try to block.

In late 2008, Craigslist announced changes that for the first time required people posting to the site's red-light district to register using a valid credit card and telephone number. Those caught posting inappropriate ads were threatened with being blacklisted.

Website officials also promised to donate the proceeds of those ads to charities that work to prevent human trafficking. Craigslist later backed away from that promise and now refuses to say what it does with the ad sales. Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has defended the steps his employees take to filter out prostitution services, saying they go well beyond those carried out by newspapers.

On 13 April 2010, the Justice Committee from the Scottish Parliament decided to issue a call for evidence for amendment 516 [pdf] which equates lap dancing licensing with that of sex shops.

The amendment was put forward by Sandra White MSP (SNP) for Glasgow.

Amendment 516 changes the 1982 Civic Government (Scotland) Act  of control of sex shops. The original act states that local authorities can decide how many sex shops can be in their authority and that the potential sex shops must advertise their intention to apply for a license. The effect that this has had is that some local authorities rejecting all applications for a sex shop license. In Glasgow, for example, the guidance notes for sex shop applications reads:

Be advised that, in the past, applications for a sex shop licence have been refused on the grounds that the committee felt that the number of sex shops for the locality (ie. Glasgow) should be nil.

It's also worth noting that the licence costs £12,000+.

The Scottish Parliament's justice committee will consider the plan this week.

Glasgow Council's Community and Safety Services arm has urged MSPs to accept White's amendment, saying lap-dancing was a form of violence against women. The letter said: Intelligence would suggest that these venues are in fact linked to, and part of, the sex industry and selling of sexual services does occur in some clubs. The council said the current licensing regime was ineffective, and added local authorities must have the option to refuse to license such establishments.

The bid is reported to have backing from Scottish Women's Aid, the Scottish Coalition Ag-ainst Sexual Exploitation, and Scottish Women's Convention.

Councillor Jim Coleman, acting head of the council, said: We view lap-dancing as a form of sexual exploitation which degrades women and also contributes to public nuisance problems.

7,614 women were arrested for vice-related activities in Singapore last year, 2,567 more than the total number nabbed in 2008.

However, local laws relating to prostitution do not apply to male sex workers and some lawyers are calling for such laws to also apply to them.

One lawyer, Sunil Sudheesan said while it's not illegal for women to engage male sex workers, these workers who have sex with other men could be charged under Section 377A of the Penal Code prohibiting homosexuality

MediaCorp finds out that some male sex workers are operating from an Orchard Road bar.

Police are cracking down on Kuta cowboys selling sex to female tourists in Bali.

Indonesia has detained 28 young men accused of selling sex at the resort after the release of a trailer for a documentary on Bali's Kuta cowboys. Cowboys in Paradise follows the lives of several beach boys, their families and their female patrons.

A council spokesman said that 28 people had been detained for supposedly not having proper identification or for disturbing the peace or security of our beaches.

If the latest e-mail purportedly sent by Apple CEO Steve Jobs to a customer called Matthew Browning is, indeed, genuine, then Apple seems to be reaching for some moral high ground, which may or may not be virtual.

Browning wrote to Jobs because he was concerned that Apple was choosing to become something that I don't remember seeing on The Wire: a moral policeman. Browning worried that Apple's initial blocking of an app by satirical cartoonist, Mark Fiore, sent a dubious signal. He then went on to discuss Apple's stance on porn.

According to TechCrunch, he wrote: I'm all for keeping porn out of kids hands. Heck--I'm all for ensuring that I don't have to see it unless I want to. But...that's what parental controls are for. Put these types of apps into categories and allow them to be blocked by their parents should they want to.

The Apple CEO reportedly replied: Fiore's app will be in the store shortly. That was a mistake. However, we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and (sic) Android phone.

An Irish court has heard how clients at two brothels in Cork were secretly filmed while using the services of prostitutes.

Caroline O'Leary has pleaded not guilty to almost seventy counts of organising prostitution and brothel keeping. Her partner Tony Lenane has pleaded guilty to twenty counts .

The charges relate to premises at Lower John street and Grafton Street in Cork on dates in 2006 and 2007.

The jury was told covert cameras were hidden in sockets on the wall and a twenty four hour feed was recorded.

The trial continues at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Update: Jailed

15th May 2010.  Based on article from irishtimes.com

A man who has made a €1 million settlement with the Criminal Assets Bureau has been jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to brothel-keeping and organising prostitution in Cork city.

Tony Linnane had pleaded guilty last month to 19 counts of brothel-keeping and organising prostitution at Grafton Street and Lower John Street in Cork city in 2006 and 2007.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Judge Seแn O Donnabhแin sentenced Linnane to two years in jail but suspended the final nine months. He said he was taking into account the fact that Linnane had agreed to pay over €1 million to Cab.

Insp Declan O'Sullivan told the court how gardaํ raided 15 premises on November 20th, 2006, and seized documents, copying equipment and computers.

They found a live link between cameras hidden in sockets in the rooms in the brothels and Linnane's house which was streaming what was happening in the brothels to his house and they also found still shots of clients with some of the prostitutes.

Gardaํ found that some 190 men had visited the Grafton Street brothel in the week before the raids and 74 had visited the John Street brothel, paying on average €150 a visit.

Insp O'Sullivan agreed with Tom Creed, defending, that none of the women working in the brothels had been trafficked or forced into working there.

A mean minded bid to introduce sweeping new laws criminalising all aspects of prostitution has been defeated in the Scottish Parliament. 

Labour MSP Trish Godman's amendment would have made it an offence to engage in, advertise or facilitate paid-for sexual activity, whether it was on the streets or indoors.

The plan won the support of the committee's three Labour members, but was voted down by its five MSPs from other parties. 

Godman ranted: As I speak, men are buying sex from prostitutes, men are raping women who are trafficked, they have no fear, they will never get caught because it is not an offence. We need to send a strong message that buying sex is not harmless or acceptable, that it should be regarded in Scotland as an abuse and an exploitation which will not tolerated. I would argue that we owe it to all women who are victimised by prostitution to do what we can now.

At present, kerb crawling is illegal in Scotland but prostitution is not, and prostitutes are arrested only if they are suspected of causing a breach of the peace.

The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, prostitutes' support agency Scotpep and Independent MSP Margo MacDonald had all warned that the amendment could drive prostitution out of the relative safety of flats and saunas and on to back streets, putting women at greater risk.

Community safety minister Fergus Ewing, who attended the justice committee meeting, said: The government is concerned about making substantial changes to the law in this difficult, complex and sensitive area without proper consideration and consultation, with all the issues involved. Rushing through a major change to the law of prostitution through amendments, without any proper consultation and with very limited time for consideration, is a bad idea.

The amendment was also criticised for being added to the already wide-ranging Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, and without having had specific consultation on the ramifications of a change in legislation on prostitution.

Ruth Morgan Thomas, of Scotpep, said the amendment would have sought to criminalise an estimated 5,000 women working in the sex industry in Scotland. She also said that a law against facilitating the purchase of sex would potentially lead to receptionists, hotel porters and even taxi drivers being charged and convicted.

Lap dancing clubs could use the Human Rights Act to oppose legislation allowing councils greater freedom to turn down lap-dancing licence applications, venue owners say.

The Policing and Crime Act forces existing lap-dancing clubs to apply for new licences and allows councils to close venues for moralistic reasons.

Chris Knight, president of the Lap-Dancing Association (LDA), said clubs could take their appeals to the European Court of Justice. If local authorities don't give us new licences, they are effectively taking away our right to property and to do business, as outlined in the Human Rights Act, and we will consider taking it as far as we have to in the courts, he said.

Local councils are likely to vigorously defend the legislation. Richard Kemp, vice-chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), said: If they want a legal showdown, then we're going to test the depths of their pockets, because we're certainly going to test ours.

Club owners argue that the legislation could infringe their right to property protection. The issue involves article 8 of the Human Rights Act which concerns the right to protection of private property, and activities pursuant to that property, said licensing lawyer Richard Arnot. If an existing lap-dancing licence is your property, then you have the right to run a lap-dancing club, and the new legislation is arguably an infringement of that right.

Julian Skeens, head of licensing law at Jeffrey Green Russell and the LDA's solicitor, said appeal cases were likely to take a long time, and clubs could remain in business for some time.

The situation has angered nutter groups that pushed for the new law. Anna van Heeswijk, campaigns co-ordinator of Object, said: Human rights legislation exists to safeguard against discrimination and to promote principles of local democracy, not to protect the rights of club owners to make a profit.

Sex workers in the Netherlands must be at least 21 years old and carry a pass with their photo and a special registration number, says a law amendment just filed in parliament.

People of 21 are better able than people of 18 to make a well-considered decision about whether or not to work as a prostitute, caretaker injustice minister Hirsch Ballin, who submitted the amendment, said in a statement: They are better able to deal and negotiate with clients. They are more likely to have some further education and thus be less economically dependent on prostitution work.

The amendment, yet to be adopted by parliament, will compel prostitutes to enrol on a national register and to have an entry interview on the risks of the job and alternatives, said the statement.

Registered prostitutes will receive a pass with a profile photograph and registration number, which will enable clients to control that they are using the services of a legal practitioner. Under the current law, only brothel owners and other prostitute handlers require authorisation

Update: Further Details of the registration scheme

17th April 2010. See Ministry of Injustice press release from english.justitie.nl, Thanks to Donald

Prostitutes have to be at least 21 years of age. This is Minister Hirsch Ballin's (the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Justice) proposal to the Lower House in an amendment to the legislative proposal already before the Lower House concerning the regulation of prostitution and sex businesses. Persons aged 21 are better able to make a well-considered decision about working as a prostitute than people aged 18; they are also more resilient as regards handling and negotiating with clients. Moreover, they will more often have finished an education and therefore economically less dependent on work in prostitution. Municipalities will have to conduct a substantive interview with each prostitute at the time of their registration or extension thereof.

Initially, the Dutch government chose an age limit of 18, in view of the risk that prostitutes aged between 18 and 21 would disappear into illegality. Minister Hirsch Ballin wants to combat this with strict checks and making illegal prostitutes, operators and their clients punishable.

Prostitutes will have to register in a national register. Upon registration, an interview has to be conducted with each prostitute concerning the risks of the business, health care and assistance, social security, insurance and possibilities to leave the world of prostitution. During such an interview, any abuses can be discussed and forwarded to the police and welfare services. Registration will only be possible in 25 to 35 larger communities throughout the Netherlands in view of the fact that conducting this type of interview requires the necessary expertise on the part of the civil servants. Registered prostitutes will receive a pass with their picture and registration number (but without their name). Clients have to check whether they are dealing with a legal prostitute by means of the pass. It is the intention that clients can establish via the Internet whether the registration number advertised by the prostitute actually exists.

There is a taboo on prostitution although it is legal in the Netherlands. Anonymity and privacy are therefore very important for prostitutes. Only a small number of supervision officials and the police will have access to the national register of prostitutes. The register will also not be linked to other IT systems (such as the Tax and Customs Administration). The details of prostitutes who retire are immediately removed from the register.

Brothels and other sex businesses (clubs, escort services, sex cinemas, massage parlours) are required to have a licence. Municipalities determine via licences where and how many brothels or other sex businesses there will be. As regards brothels and escort companies, a municipality can elect not to allow any company, the so-called zero option. The municipality does need to have supportive arguments for choosing this option that are related to public order, safety or public health. Moral arguments should not play a role.

The licences for prostitution companies will include conditions on health, safety and the right to self-determination of prostitutes. This will strengthen their position. Prostitution companies will require a permanent address with a fixed telephone line for a licence. The licences of escort services will be entered in a national registers which will create supervision of this part of the industry.

Clients who make use of illegal prostitution will become punishable because they maintain a type of prostitution where forms of abuse and exploitation can easily occur. The prohibition on the operation of a prostitution company without a licence and registration duty for prostitution creates a clear division between legal and illegal prostitution. That division is also recognisable for clients.

The act is intended to regulate the prostitution industry, not to obstruct the legal part of the industry. The new act is also intended to make a contribution to combating abuses such as coercion, abuse and human trafficking.

Punishment of violations

• Prostitute without registration or working in a brothel without a licence: A fine of at most 380 euros *
• Clients who visit unregistered prostitutes or unlicensed brothels: A fine of at most 7,600 euros or a term of imprisonment of at most 6 months *
• Sex business without a licence or violation of the statutory rules: A fine of at most 18,500 euros or a term of imprisonment of at most two years

Update: Doubts

8th February 2011. See article from dutchnews.nl

Government plans to introduce a special register of prostitutes are running into trouble in parliament, with MPs from the ruling right-wing VVD also having doubts, news agency ANP reports.

In particular, MPs say there are legal questions over the privacy of prostitutes and fears that it will drive them into the illegal sector. VVD MPs are also concerned about the cost of the registration system and regulation, ANP said.

On 13 April 2010, the Justice Committee from the Scottish Parliament decided to issue a call for evidence for amendment 516 [pdf] which equates lap dancing licensing with that of sex shops.

The amendment was put forward by Sandra White MSP (SNP) for Glasgow. The amendment is one of several hundred put forward to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, which also contains the extreme pornography law and amendment relating to the criminalising the purchasing of sexual services.

Amendment 516 changes the 1982 Civic Government (Scotland) Act  of control of sex shops. The original act states that local authorities can decide how many sex shops can be in their authority and that the potential sex shops must advertise their intention to apply for a license. The effect that this has had is that some local authorities rejecting all applications for a sex shop license. In Glasgow, for example, the guidance notes for sex shop applications reads:

Be advised that, in the past, applications for a sex shop licence have been refused on the grounds that the committee felt that the number of sex shops for the locality (ie. Glasgow) should be nil.

It's also worth noting that the licence costs £12,000+.

Glasgow in particular has had a long history of making life difficult for adult entertainment venues and it should come of no surprise that Sandra White had spoken out against lap dancing clubs in the past. Opponents of lap dancing issued a £7000 report by Julie Bindel in 2004 to prove lap dancing was bad. But in the past, Glasgow's prejudices did not seem to affect other cities, such as Edinburgh. This new amendment will drag all of Scotland into Glasgow's sex-negative way of life.

What is most disturbing about the lap dancing amendment is that, like so many other laws, it is so poorly written that it could potentially extend beyond its original intent. Sandra White and Glasgow Council are quite obviously dead against adult entertainment venues. But this law could potentially call your own bedroom an adult entertainment venue!

In the amendment, an adult entertainment venue is defined as any premises, vehicle, vessel or stall used for a business with an audience of one or more that any live performance or display of nudity (which includes breasts on a woman or pubic area on either sex) that is provided solely or principally for the purpose of sexually stimulating any member of the audience. Where this gets tricky is the little bits of (whether by verbal or other means) and ignoring financial gain.

Women taking their clothes off and dancing in an erotic way in front of a paying audience of men is the target. Ideally, I should be able to put on a strip show for my partner in the comfort of my own home. But is this allowed here? I'm not doing it for money, but we are ignoring financial gain. I'm only doing it for my partner, but audience includes an audience of one. I'm doing it in my own home, but the location is any premises. In other words, every time I expose my breasts to my partner, I would be committing a crime under this law. Even worse, I can't even verbally describe an erotic fantasy or read a published (and wholly legal) erotic story to my partner because it would count as a live performance of the verbal kind that is sexually stimulating.

Another bit of brilliant legislation from the Scottish Government in an effort to stop people from enjoying sex.

This news has been brought to you by CAAN Scotland.

A major crackdown is expected on the dance bars, which are running illegally around Mumbai. Dance bars were banned from August 2005 but several of them still operate clandestinely in Mumbai and its suburbs.

Maharashtra home minister R R Patil said that if he comes across incidents or complaints of dance bars being operational, he would take action against police officials involved.

Patil's statement came during the Question Hour in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. A questioner complained that despite the ban, dance bars thrive in the western suburbs of Mumbai supposedly creating law and order problems with locals.

Patil, as home minister was instrumental in banning the dance bars. Following the ban, the Bharatiya Bargirls Union and Fight for Rights of Bar Owners' Association has moved the Bombay High Court, which lifted the ban, but allowed the Maharashtra government to move Supreme Court. The SC has admitted the appeal of the state. The ban, however, remains in force.

While some of these work in the dance bars, which operate clandestinely and take in only selected patrons, some girls on the other hand – have been hunting other jobs since the dance bar ban. Some of them has taken to mujras, some are now working as waitresses in orchestra-bars, some have moved to the Gulf and some have taken to prostitution.

In 1986, there were only 24 dance bars in the city. Within a year the number reached to 32. Within a decade the number went up to 206 and by 2005 the number rocketed to 1250. And, finally came the ban in 2005.

Sweden's former injustice minister Thomas Bodstr๖m and former equality ombudsman Claes Borgstr๖m have proposed increasing the punishment for paying for sex, admitting that legislation outlawing the practice during the Social Democrat tenure has proved insufficient to address the supposed problem.

They propose, for example, elevating the classification of pimping to human trafficking to underline the severity of the crime and increase its penalty. They also propose raising the custodial penalty for paying for sex from six months to twelve months.

Furthermore, victims of the purchase of sex should be entitled to receive compensation, among a raft of other measures proposed.

Three men have been arrested under new legislation aimed at protecting women who have been forced into prostitution.

They were held by officers at an alleged brothel in Newham, east London, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

The men were questioned on suspicion of paying for the sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force.

A woman was also arrested on suspicion of managing a brothel.

The arrests were made on the day new laws came into force to target men who pay for sex. From 1 April, a man paying for sex with a prostitute who is being exploited through force, deception or threats is breaking the law - regardless of whether or not he knows she is selling her body against her will.

Under the new legislation, courts have the power to close down premises associated with certain prostitution and pornography offences. And a new penalty for the offence of soliciting will oblige sex workers to attend meetings at which they will be helped to leave prostitution.

When I arrived at Women's Question Time at Westminster last night, a panel debate on feminist issues hosted by Eaves, I was dismayed to see that the literature being handed out included a copy of The Big Brothel Report, the controversial report on sex work and trafficking which alienated so many sex worker campaign groups.

As we sat down and waited for the event to start, my companion and I found ourselves debating the issue. She was in favour of the Policing and Crime Bill, and I found myself once again explaining that it hasn't, in practice, improved things for sex workers; that the Swedish model is rejected by many people who campaign for sex worker rights.

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