Authors Electric

Previously published twelve years ago, I was talking about why we 'celebrate' Bonfire night ... Yesterday was bonfire night (she says, writing this in early October) and we’ll have just finished celebrating witchcraft and terrorism. And I’m not talking Hallowe'en here, which after all is a recognised pagan festival, even if it has been hijacked by commercialism. But what else do you call a celebration of the day somebody tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament? Not to mention the fact that we celebrate it by letting off our own explosive devices – either privately at home or at an organised display – and by burning an effigy. It’s all positively medieval, isn’t it? And yet we stand with our sparklers watching Guy Fawkes on the bonfire and oohing and ahhing at the fireworks, and nobody apparently thinks this is wrong in any way – apart from the pet-lovers and the health-and-safety people, that is. Why? It’s not a part of our culture, nor is it a religious festival of any ...