Gunpower, treason and plot Nov. 5, 2006

Hawkshead have the best fireworks night in the country. Yet I went to the City of Carlisle’s Bitts Park extravaganza, where they would be burning effigies of America’s Wild West. The saloon and jail went up in smoke. Last year they burnt the Houses of Parliament.

Martyrs of the blog. That’s a strange concept. Although I enjoy Tracey Emin’s blog, which she calls a diary, and in which she shows courage beyond gender, I think the martyrs are really those who are locked up or even put to death for their writings. These include people around the globe who have shown up their governments for corruption and whatever else. Guy Fawkes would have tried to bring down government in this modern era by way of his blog, rather than a pile of sticks and a match at the ready.