Another thought over Guy Fawkes Night

Did the earth move for you?

I thought it was relatively quiet in this part of South Shields last night, it wasn’t quite as quiet as the 1960’s version with boxes of Standard fireworks that propelled rockets to just over rooftop height, but it wasn’t quite as noisy as previous years which sounded like Beirut in the middle of a full scale war! It was tolerable, and you can’t ask for much more than that – the cat was happy.

I do wonder how much some of the youngsters who were outside yesterday understood of Guy Fawkes plot to kill the King and Parliament?

John Redwood offers some alternative thoughts about the gunpowder plot in his blog:

On November 5th we remember that terrorism in the name of religion is not a new problem.

We should also remember how this plot was foiled. It was not intercepted through the issue of ID cards. The police or army did not spot the plotters carrying huge barrels of gunpowder into a cellar. It was not prevented by a cordon of oak or iron – today’s concrete and steel – around the Palace of Westminster.

The murderers were prevented from killing the Parliament and government of James I by intelligence, picking up a family tip off.

Just as a little reminder about how effective ID cards might be.