Having been to Glastonbury this year and been considerably pissed off by twats waving 20 foot high ganga leaf flags and Che Guevara banners in front of the main stage at Glastonbury, I have to say that this doesn't come as entirely bad news...

Melvin Benn, who organises the Reading and Leeds Festivals and also has a hand in the Glastonbury Festival has described the flags as a 'nightmare' as "The people behind them - not immediately behind them, but 20 or 30 rows behind them - can't see." Benn has gone on to say that they will take flags off people at the arena gates, meaning that anyone who wants to, can still attach a flag to their tent. It's watching the bands that he feels is a problem. "I'm doing everything I can to ban flags this year. For some reason those that buy a flag want to be closest to the stage."

Benn will next take his anti-flag campaign to Glastonbury where he is in discussions with Michael Eavis. "You couldn't see the acts," Mr Benn said. "The flags were everywhere. There have always been flags but not to the level that there has been. And the flags have become very long and tall."

Surprisingly, the flag sellers have come out in opposition to Mr Benn's comments. "To many people, it makes the event," said Tony Withers, who often sells flags onsite at festivals. "People use them as a tent marker and then, as the show goes on, they lift them off the ground and take them to the stage. They want to get on TV - that's the big thing now." Flags make festivals - you heard it here first....

Also on the banned list for Reading and Leeds this year is crowd surfing. In quite an amusing form of punishment, fans who crowdsurf, rather than being let back in to the crowd, will have to walk all the way round and back to the front of the arena.

"Reading Borough Council Health & Safety team consider it quite dangerous and we will endeavour to try and limit the amount of times people will do it," said perennial scourge of the kids, Mr Benn again. "They won't be ejected from the festival but they'll be ejected from the arena. What that will result in is probably around a 20-minute delay before they get back into the arena. It will certainly delay their ability to get back in to watch the band."

Whether this just results in everyone saving their crowdsurfing til the last 2 minutes remains to be seen, but at least it will be easy to escape the Kaiser Chiefs set, if you unfortunately get stuck anywhere near the stage...