On 17 Oct 2005, at 8:22 pm, David Chamberlin wrote: > Sorry, I seem to have done something silly, and can't remember > where the message quoting advice is. The chat system has snipped my > reply and repeated the original post. :-( I thought I was quoting > correctly (i.e. reply after the OP). Anyway, here is my reply > again, without the quote: > > I enjoy a really good display, but I'd go as far as to ban the > private sale of fireworks completely. If someone suggested > *starting* to sell dangerous explosives to the public, there would > be an outcry. Probably. They won't let you do anything fun any more. :-( > Most of the people who buy them probably have no idea of the origin > of bonfire night anyway, and in my view the continuing celebration > of the thwarting of a Catholic plot to blow up Parliament and the > King is plain silly (and yes I do realise I would either be out of > a job or be celibate if they had succeeded, but that's not the > point!). As this year is exactly 400 years since it happened, let's > make this the last one, go out with a bang ;-) and lay it to rest > for ever. There's a distinct paucity of things to look forward to in the Autumn, and I wouldn't want to encourage the shops into pushing Christmas even earlier than they already do. Trafalgar Day's the right time of year. Plus it would really annoy the French, which is probably a bonus. :-) It's not really British enough in character though, in that it doesn't commemorate some heroic failure or other. I must have a look in a copy of "On the psychology of military incompetence" -- a very fine book -- and see if there are any suitable dates. Obviously the charge of the light brigade is a leading contender, but I don't know the date offhand. Tim -- Dr Tim Cutts Informatics Systems Group, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute GPG: 1024D/E3134233 FE3D 6C73 BBD6 726A A3F5 860B 3CDD 3F56 E313 4233