Every year I have a small firework party in the garden much to the delight of my adult autistic daughter who looks forward to it all the year. My daughter and the 2 or 3 child visitors take turns to choose a firework and all the lovely names are read out with all judging how well the firework matches it desciption. All the oohs and aahs, whistles, sparks shreiks and bangs are captured on a tape that my daughter can play again and again for endless pleasure.

This year my local paper ran a poll asking if the sale of fireworks to the public should be banned and 70% said they should.

I was rather miffed at this because bans are not the answer to controlling iiresponsible behaviour. They penalises those who do act responsibly.

I suspect that the majority of respondents are dog owners as every year at this time the local paper prints letters from dog owners about dogs being upset by fireworks. I suspect too that some owners are more hysterical than their pets and I am grateful for a few owners who accept the inevitable and write of the care and teaching they give their pets to help them to cope.

I suspect too the the letters are somewhat of a backlash as the majority of letters to the local paper are about dog fouling with the result that certain areas uncluding stretched of the beach have been closed to dogs. Banning is always easier and less expensive than control by good management so those calling so loudly now for a ban on fireworks need to realise that some job's worth, anxious to prove his thrifty manement, could call for a ban on the public owning dogs, informing thenm instead that their could be catered for in giant kennels which they would pay for alnong with the privilege of visitong them and taking them for walks inside the compound.

The world is not perfectand we are not going to get everything exactly to our liking and nor should we. The emphasis should be on our common humanity so everyone gets the best possible justice.