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"Will the
Government give a hang? Well they ought to,
because people have really had enough. Yes Mr
Blair, they really have."
Our
meeting with the Minister for Consumer Affairs,
Melanie Johnson, has been delayed till next month
due to her commitments. The mail is
continuing to pour in and we can hardly keep up
with it. Every letter needs some sort of
detailed reply so I spend several hours of each
day carrying out this task.
On Guy Fawkes day, I went into Broadcasting House
and did my usual two hours of Radio Breakfast
Shows from 7 am till 9 am. There is a tiny
studio, in the bowels of Broadcasting House, and
outside the studio there is a big patching board
to feed the interviewer into the many studios all
over the UK. You go with your plastic cup
of water and put the headset on and there you
stay for two hours. Every 10 minutes you
are interviewed in another part of the UK, the
difference defined by the regional accents of the
presenters.
Sometimes there is a delay and I listen in, just
like yourself, to the local programme. I
always find it interesting. The presenters
all have their own views. Some are fair,
some deliberately go over the top and be as rude
as they can. This, however, never bothers
me because I know we have a just cause. I
have over thirty years experience of handling
Radio and TV presenters and I have enjoyed every
moment of it.
Often when I finish and return to HQ there are
many more interviews arranged. I do some, I
pass others on to my chairman Dudley Savill, or
to those who have expressed an interest in doing
media work. I have learnt that I cannot carry out
all the interviews. Two or three weeks of
nothing but interviews can leave you totally
exhausted. The break provided by other
things to do and local members to see, is quite
refreshing. I am grateful for all the help
I can get from our members and friends.
People, naturally, want to talk about their own
personal experiences with fireworks, and the bulk
of phone calls, letters and emails are from those
who have had an animal injured or killed, or
equally distressing, seriously traumatised by
fireworks. Some people liken their area to
a War Zone, and ask what can be done? We
always guide them towards their MP and Local
Authority, the DTI and the Home Office. The
DTI are responsible for the fireworks but the
Home Office, via the Police, is responsible for
what happens in the streets. In recent
years the attitude regarding enforcing firework
laws has been that it has nothing to do with the
police but everything to do with the DTI and the
Trading Standard Officers. I am very quick
to tell all our people that even the outdated
1875 Explosives Act which covers fireworks has a
section which forbids the discharge of fireworks
in the streets. That this law is not
enforced, rigorously, causes the largest number
of injuries, particularly to children,
hooliganism, injuries and deaths to animals,
nuisance and widespread fire damage to buildings.
The second largest problem is caused by the legal
use of fireworks in peoples back gardens, when
people discharge fireworks day and night,
regardless of the consequences, or feelings of
their neighbours.
Every MP in the country had a huge mailbag
bearing testimony to this, although the DTI still
peddle the myth that it is only the illegal use
of fireworks that causes the problems. Let
them come down from their ivory tower and talk to
the people in the towns and villages and carry
out some basic research, such as 'How do
fireworks affect you?' Teletext carried out
an opinion poll over the November 5 weekend
asking people if they want a ban on the retail
sales of fireworks. There was an
overwhelming response in favour of a ban by 95%
of those who participated, twice as many people
took part in this poll than those regarding the
War in Afghanistan. Each year Ceefax or
Teletext carry out such a poll. The
percentages have always been high in favour of a
ban, running from 80% upwards, but never as high
as this year.
Will the Government give a hang? Well they
ought to, because people have really had enough.
Yes Mr Blair, they really have.
As ever
Noel
November 2001
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