One of the important continuities in British life is Bonfire night. I remember well the excitement as a young boy being allowed the stay up late to watch the fireworks. I enjoyed helping put together the bonfire pile. It was good when the heat came through from the flames on what was often a cold night.
The commemoration has often been a muddled very British one. The official reason for encouraging bonfire nights was to remind people of the dreadful terrorist crime Guy Fawkes proposed to commit, as he got ready to blow up Parliament. He wanted to kill the whole assembly of peers, MP s and the King himself as they gathered together in the Lords chamber for the state opening. He wanted to murder the whole governing establishment, clearing the way for a new King and Ministers. Burning Guys on thousands of bonfires around the land was to remind people of what could happen to such evil criminals.
For others Bonfire night can bring disparaging remarks about Parliament and government in the British tradition of challenges and jokes at the expense of authority, whilst not approving of mass murder. I have seen one civil fireworks where a mock up of Parliament itself was enveloped in flames rather than a representation of the plotter bomber.
I celebrate tonight Parliament’s survival thanks to vigilance and intelligence about the actions of the plotters. When I had to leave my room in the Grand Hotel Brighton following a bomb which did go off, we learned that most of the government escaped but five were dead. The wish to murder governments can still haunt our Parliament which needs to be vigilant both for those who would kill to replace a government and to uphold our precious liberties.