Remember, remember...

It’s fifth November. Fireworks night… a celebration of the failure of a Catholic conspiracy to blow up Parliament. I wonder what we would come up with now as a system of government if the whole damned thing went sky high today? 

Would we really keep First Past the Post? Would we rebuild a system whereby the predator class and the corporates effectively set the rules for the rest of the country? No-one would want the chaos that would follow such a critical strike, but of course events not dissimilar are happening around the world. 

As such I am troubled by the idea of setting off flash bangs and explosions, beyond the simple environmental and animal welfare aspects. When missiles and high velocity rounds are being fired into civilian centres in the middle east, into refugee camps and evacuation routes… and when sovereign countries are still being invaded… well, it feels mad to be playing at fireworks. 

And yet here they are… In fact the local display was pretty low key in comparison with previous years - maybe that’s a cost of living issue. But since they were doing the thing, I felt it worthwhile to take some shots. This is a collage of shots taken from my study window. 

Next week we will Remember those who fell in war. We are ever on the edge of being drawn into wars. May peace be found; engaged with, grown and shared. May these be the only flash bangs we see in Britain and across all the lands.