Remember, remember, the fifth of November. Guy Fawkes night again, and people across the land will be letting off fireworks to commemorate the Gun Powder plot. In 1605, he had conspired to blow up Parliament - unfortunately, it did not work out as intended, He was captured, tried and found guilty, and put to death through torture and hanging. They didn't do measures by half in those times.
This year, a petition to Parliament has drawn about a quarter of a million signatures. They plead to Parliament to ban the sales of fireworks to private individuals. I quote
Every year more and more people, animals and wildlife get hurt by
fireworks. It’s time something was fine to stop this. There are enough
organised firework groups around for us to still enjoy fireworks safely
so please help me stop the needless sale of them to the public!
The petition will be withdrawn from the website tomorrow, as parliament will be dissolved ahead of the General Election on December 12th.
In the Netherlands, £60m worth of fireworks were sold to the public in 2018. It is a national passtime at New Year, and an entrenched habit (which I, personally, don't particularly like). Apart from pollution and distress caused to animals, there is a growing tide of violence against emergency service workers (police, firemen and ambulance workers), fuelled by excess alcohol. Many people illegally import fireworks from other countries, where the rules on fireworks are less stringent than in Holland. They commonly have more gunpowder in them and can cause death and destruction. Each year, dozens of people, many of them minors, attend hospital A&E departments with injuries to eyes, limbs, hearing and other parts of the body. Some permanently lose eye sight, hearing or limbs - and fatalities are known to occur as well.
Letting off fireworks is a specialised skill that private individuals do not have. Even if all instructions on the packaging are followed, the risks remain high. Too high, in my mind.
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