It should come as no surprise at all to learn that Nanny is doing her best to try to ban fireworks again. Fireworks are fun, and Nanny hates people having fun.This time Nanny is using her chums in the EU, that most monstrous and corrupt of organisations, to try to ban them.
A directive approved by MEPs (the people who don't want us to read the report into fraud and corruption within the EU) and EU ministers will force Britain and other member nations to adopt new safety regulations by 2010.
It seems that the EU Health and Safety Gestapo are even more officious than our own, they want firework manufacturers to pay for the retesting of tens of thousands of fireworks already considered safe in Britain.
Tom Smith, the Confederation of British Industry spokesman for the pyrotechnics industry, said that the new rules would make it impossible for firework-display firms to produce shows of variety and value.
"Not a single person in Britain will be made safer by all this additional testing, but everyone will be affected by it becoming much more expensive and bureaucratic to import fireworks.
It's a very real threat. You won't have New Year's Eve shows in London and Edinburgh, or on Guy Fawkes Night.
We wouldn't even have a display at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics."
The new European standard means that people will be told to retire at least 26ft after lighting a firework, as opposed to the current 16ft. Many people's gardens are not that big, hence the new rule will stop people holding displays in their own homes.
As ever, we see that the state (this time in the guise of the EU) adds no value to the quality of people's lives. Its sole raison d'etre is to create rules and regulations that justify its own miserable and corrupt existence.
Ask your MEP (if you know who that is) why we are not allowed to read the report on corruption within the EU and the fraud perpetrated by many of the MEP's wrt fraudulent expense claims.
The EU is rotten to the core, and needs to be chopped down to size.
When, a few years ago, the EU insisted on the need for testing large numbers of chemicals that were widely used and had been for years, notably by gardeners and hobbyists, it led to most of them disappearing from the market.
ReplyDeleteThey were popular because they were effective, inexpensive and rarely had an adverse effect on anyone if correctly used. A bit like water.
They were inexpensive because they were not subject to patents, having been used for so long. That meant they were widely manufactured but at low margins, leaving nothing much to fund the testing which was the responsibility of the manufacturers. Easier not to sell in the EU on that basis since the probability is that even a reasonable chunk of the profits as a backhander would not be adequate for the officials.
This testing was, apparently, strongly supported by the larger chemical companies who had alternative products (allegedly) that were more expensive my some margin as they were still subject to patent or licence.
I am wondering which company in the pyrotechnic game would be big enough to be excited by these new rules. Can't think of one. So is it just an anti-China (or more widely anti-'Asian trade' )move of some sort?
On the other hand ....
The thought of an unplanned side effect of banning fireworks from the 2012 farce in London has a large measure of appeal. Think of the pollution saving!
I love fireworks. It appeals to the pyromaniac in me. Here in the US, each state decides what fireworks they will sell to the unwashed masses to set off in their backyards etc. In most states, you cant get much due nto Nannying effort, but my sister lives in a very independant state whose motto is"You wanna set off firework? Go for it but if you blow off your hand, it's on you so don't come crying to us". ANd the citizenry are fine with that so you can buy some BIG ass stuff, everyones careful and a good time is had by all.
ReplyDeleteIT's this "resistance is futile" borglike EU that I'm sure is a huge concern to freedom loving Brits everywhere. Between an overbearing nanny state and overlords in Brussels....pretty scary stuff.
Debbie
Seemingly, even MEPs have difficulty seeing the report, it's so damning (and no, I don’t know who my MEP is).
ReplyDeleteAnyway,
I can recall some years ago not even having to stand 16ft back. We'd just shout to the guy "Your hair's on fire!". He'd put the fire out with his hand (as one does) and then continue with the fireworks display. If there'd been any Health & Safety officers present they'd have gone into shock, probably requiring counselling for post-traumatic stress.
On the bright side though - have you ever heard anyone on Guy Fawkes Night, in the privacy of their own back garden saying: “Wait my darling! Let us first ensure that we are all standing the minimum prerequisite distance from this sparkler, as prescribed by our much-loved political masters in Westminster.”?
I think not, and I can’t imagine any sane person paying any more attention to our political masters in Europe.
When I think back to the fun we used to have as kids - two 'armies' of kids (small armies of three or four) throwing bangers at each other. Also holding the bangers (Always bangers - almost - used to fire roman candles at each other too)and trying to get the timing right to make it explode in mid-air (stung like buggery if you held it too long). Demolishing stuff (Little stuff). Firing them out of pipes. Waiting until the fuse starts fizzing then throwing them in water to make a splash.
ReplyDeleteFiring air bombs at each other by hand ...
And other things which I'd better not mention here.
All this fun that today's cotton-wool-wrapped kids can't have. No wonder they go around carving each other up - anything to relieve the boredom.
Still - can always make my own fireworks I suppose. Problem with that is that I only know how to make various sizes of banger - from standard size all the way up to "You're under arrest".
Didn't we ALL used to blow stuff up when we kids? No? What a strange lot you are.
At school (I did occasionally attend) we used to have to sit on the benches in the cloakrooms on rainy or snowy days.
ReplyDeleteI did throw a jumping jack in at the kids one day. That stung too -my arse. Didn't do it twice.
Ken and all,
ReplyDeleteWith the final surrender to the EU in parliament yesterday the only way to rid ourselves of its malign influence is to leave.
I make no bones about my political affiliation - I joined UKIP years ago as all three of the main parties are wedded to the EU and by extension its total dominance and nannyism of our day to day lives. The day Dave 'Boy Green' Cameron pledges to leave is the day I go back to voting Conservative.
Party political broadcast over.