On Fireworks

I just got back from Vienna, and so will spend the next few days putting together some fun and exciting dispatches. Apologies for the lack of posting in the past month; many of you must be suffering from Brian-In-Europe withdrawal.

Pursuant to my last post, I did notice this interesting tidbit in a press review from last week:

Fireworks under fire
De Telegraaf reports on an appeal by Dutch Public Prosecutor Gustaaf Biezeveld for a European-wide ban on the sale of fireworks. The public prosecutor argues that the problem is more serious in the Netherlands than in other European countries.

De Telegraaf uses statistics to back up the argument: "During the recent New Year's celebrations around 1,100 people were injured, most of them by illegal fireworks. There were millions of euros in damage to public property, many cars were destroyed and 22 schools were burned down." [Brian's note: twenty-two schools?!! That can't be right...]

Dutch law does not ban the sale of fireworks to individuals. The public prosecutor wants to change this so that it may only be sold for public events. He says the European Union should make a deal with China to end the practice. "The United States already has made this kind of deal and it works perfectly."