Letters November 10: How the fun went out of Bonfire Night

Your columnist Sarah Todd was perfectly correct in her observation about the way that Bonfire Night has been hijacked by organisations (The Yorkshire Post, October 30) These modern displays are packaged and sanitised beyond belief. All the fun and excitement have been taken away. More breaking down of individualism as state takeover creeps gradually into yet another aspect of life. This is totally different from the lovely fires that we collected, stoked up, arranged and enjoyed as children in the 1950s and 60s. We even made dens amongst the heaps of wood, but were never incinerated alive. We would never dream of attending a modern “public safety” obsessed gathering where youths in high-vis jackets are having all the fun with stoking the fire and lighting the fireworks, while lesser mortals who are paying for the privilege are marshalled behind a stretched rope, being herded together like sheep in a pen, where they cannot even feel the fire. Indeed, as your columnist suggests, we used to derive enjoyment from the fire itself, messing about roasting spuds, eating bonfire toffee and all sorts of other treats. You would also stay out long into the night, getting pleasure from putting bits of unburnt debris into the blaze to keep it going. If you ever burnt your finger you merely put on some cream. No moaning to the council or any other authority. This, of course, is just the sort of silly childishness that the organisers fear, which is at the root of all this ridiculous “safety” tomfoolery. In view of all this, if we wanted a fire, we would still have it at home with friends and family. Absolutely no high-vis jackets nor ropes in sight, thank you very much. Fair prices, not subsidies From: Simon Foster, Newfield Grange, Calton, Skipton. WE were told recently that two national parks – the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District – are to be joined up in an effort to “protect this vital, beautiful landscape for generations to come” (The Yorkshire Post, October 24). Protect it from what exactly? Is there no end to these quangos, and the various gravy trains that operate therein? These areas have been there for millions of years. Why suddenly announce a fresh countryside stewardship scheme to the tune of £3bn to pay farmers and landowners to do what they are already doing, and making a fairly good job of it? If farmers were paid a proper realistic price for their produce, be it meat, corn or milk, which was commensurate to the cost of production, then all farmers could enjoy a slice of the cake, without the interference of inspectors et al. It is wildly inappropriate to load up the fat cats in the hills for tending their rockeries. The subsidy business is in urgent need of redress, to make way for a fairer, more sustainable future for us all. Eye-opener on waste food From: Mrs M Gilks, Harrogate Road, Yeadon, Leeds. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall never appealed much when he was at River Cottage and going foraging in the woods, but his new mantle of trying to stop the public, supermarkets and fast food outlets from wasting so much food every day has certainly improved his standing. His recent television programme was certainly an eye-opener and particularly heart-breaking for the parsnip-producing farmers who, allegedly under pressure from the Yorkshire-based supermarket Morrisons, were forced to dump tons of imperfect-looking parsnips as customers would not be interested in buying them. Obviously people won’t want to eat parsnips all day and every day, but with queues at food banks growing ever longer surely this is proof of the unacceptable imbalance in the way the food industry is organised. Excluded at Cenotaph From: Les Arnott, Sheffield Having watched the wreath-laying from the Cenotaph, I felt that the entire process was tragically devalued. The party which won the EU elections and took four million votes in the General Election – the third highest number – was wickedly excluded from participation. David Cameron clearly had the power to remedy this abomination. To his eternal shame, he again chose to lean on outdated rules from what appears to have been the basest of political motives. Vast rewards not earned From: Ian Smith, Bradford. Your correspondent David Cook (The Yorkshire Post, November 5) says new Barclays boss “Jes Staley is set to earn a remuneration package of £8.3m”. Forgive me Mr Cook, he might receive that package, but he cannot earn it. No one earns such gross amounts. This largesse cannot be remuneration for any amount of work, responsibility or experience. Let’s inform these people that even if they’re granted and receive huge sums, they cannot ever earn them.