THERE was something missing about late October and early November this year.
I couldn't quite put my finger on it for a while - after all it's easier to notice something unusual that has happened, rather than something that hasn't happened.
It was Blackburn's police chief, David Mallaby, who solved the mystery for me. He asked my most recent residents' meeting - in Roe Lee School, in the north of the town - whether they had noticed anything different.
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Guy Fawkes' Day, November 5, was the clue (Mr Mallaby was once a leading member of the Lancashire CID). The answer was the absence of noise and disturbance from fireworks. Our meeting was taking place on a Friday evening, in a school hall. As he remarked, in previous years in the days leading up to Bonfire Night the discussion inside any hall almost anywhere in the country would have punctuated by the whiff of cordite and the noise of bangers and rockets being let off, and often by the much less happy noise of people who had been injured by the fireworks too.
And it's true. In my experience both in Blackburn and in London there really has been a sea change in behaviour regarding fireworks in recent years.
People can still safely enjoy communal firework parties as they always have; but there is much less of the harassment by firework which many areas had to endure.
And the old and very dangerous "games" to which I was a witness as a child (of course, I never did nothing myself) of street bonfires, jumping jacks to scare the living daylights out of your sister and her pals, and the odd banger through a letter box, if not eliminated entirely are certainly much reduced in their incidence today.
That's the anecdotal view of the police in East Lancashire. It's also borne out by the statistics.
In four years - from 2003 to 2007 - the number of incidents relating to the "inappropriate sale or use of fireworks" reported to the police in the Blackburn area between October 1 and November 5 has almost halved - from 309 in 2003 to 168 this year.
The big change came in 2004, and the big change was the law.
After years of debate the law on fireworks really was toughened up by the 2003 Fireworks Act and regulations made the following year.
The sale of bangers, air-bombs and mini-rockets - the hooligans' firework of choice - were all banned, and so was the possession of any fireworks by anyone under 18.
A curfew on the use of fireworks between 11 pm and 7 am (apart from Bonfire Night, New Year's Eve, the Chinese New Year and Diwali) has also been imposed.
The police were given a power to enforce the law partly by a fixed penalty notice of up to £80.
What's more the police - and local council staff like trading standards - have not gone about enforcing the law in a heavy-handed way, dishing out penalty tickets with gay abandon.
Indeed in the whole of Lancashire there have been fewer than 10 penalty tickets issued each year.
This does not mean that the law is not working. Quite the reverse, with the added bonus that it's been largely self-enforcing.
It's rather like the smoking ban, which I wrote about a few weeks ago.
The law is not merely about enforcement - in so many ways it can also change the very fabric of our society.
Posted by: jamescronshaw, burnley on 11:55am Thu 15 Nov 07
Changing the fabric of society? From what to what? Does it matter to politicians what the ethnic origin of the voter is?
As long as you get the vote. does it matter?
Changing the fabric of society? From what to what? Does it matter to politicians what the ethnic origin of the voter is?
we still had nights of fireworks going off
in the run up to bonfire night, its not much point ringing the police as you cannot tell were they fireworks are being set off all you can here are the bangs and the sparks in the sky, if there are none at roe lee perhaps we should all move there
we still had nights of fireworks going off
in the run up to bonfire night, its not much point ringing the police as you cannot tell were they fireworks are being set off all you can here are the bangs and the sparks in the sky, if there are none at roe lee perhaps we should all move there
Posted by: chubbster, Blackburn on 4:39pm Thu 15 Nov 07
He's having a laugh. It's been like Beirut for 2 weeks on the run up to bonfire night where I live and it wasn't much different for 4 or 5 nights after. It begs the question - What planet is Jack on? Not only has he lost touch with the voter but it looks like he's lost touch with reality too.
He's having a laugh. It's been like Beirut for 2 weeks on the run up to bonfire night where I live and it wasn't much different for 4 or 5 nights after. It begs the question - What planet is Jack on? Not only has he lost touch with the voter but it looks like he's lost touch with reality too.
Posted by: jean, Blackburn on 6:07pm Thu 15 Nov 07
Jack Straw must have gone deaf. We have had at least 3 weeks of fireworks going off in the Intack area, even during the night. Reported incidents have gone down he said, the reason for this is that people are fed up of reporting them and nothing is done about it.
Jack Straw must have gone deaf. We have had at least 3 weeks of fireworks going off in the Intack area, even during the night. Reported incidents have gone down he said, the reason for this is that people are fed up of reporting them and nothing is done about it.
Jack Straw is either deluded or an out-and-out liar. Th number of fireworks being let off is as high as ever. People must be unaware of the firework curfew, or is it just another law that the police are incapable of enforcing?
Jack Straw is either deluded or an out-and-out liar. Th number of fireworks being let off is as high as ever. People must be unaware of the firework curfew, or is it just another law that the police are incapable of enforcing?
Posted by: Terry, Blackburn on 7:34pm Thu 15 Nov 07
just to let you know, I believe Jack Straw does suffer from quite an acute case of titinus. So asking him to comment on 'noise' on Nov 5th, is like asking Tony Blair to write an article on "Honesty".
just to let you know, I believe Jack Straw does suffer from quite an acute case of titinus. So asking him to comment on 'noise' on Nov 5th, is like asking Tony Blair to write an article on "Honesty".
Jack Straw should come to my part of the town where fire work displays are a regular feature throughout the year. Fire works feature at wedding celebrations and either no one cares, or understands that they are breaking the law when it's well after midnight! There's no point in reporting these incidents to the police as they fail to appear when they are needed, and I speak from experience. Jack Straw is not a resident of this town so I recommend that he moves in and hears the noise for himself, failing that he can look up to the sky and see for himself!
Jack Straw should come to my part of the town where fire work displays are a regular feature throughout the year. Fire works feature at wedding celebrations and either no one cares, or understands that they are breaking the law when it's well after midnight! There's no point in reporting these incidents to the police as they fail to appear when they are needed, and I speak from experience. Jack Straw is not a resident of this town so I recommend that he moves in and hears the noise for himself, failing that he can look up to the sky and see for himself!
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