To support a ban on Chinese Lanterns

[Myleetlepony]

www.nfuonline.com/Regions/East-Anglia/News/Fight-continues-against-lantern-menace/
They have got to be one of the most stupid ideas around at the moment. I've written to two popular local wedding venues that allows them to be set off, highlighting the NFU campaign and asking them to consider banning them. Waiting for replies. However, I think they need to be banned from sale completely.
If this wire got around an animal's leg it wouldn't break, it would sever skin, flesh and tendon. So it was terrifying to find one in my ponies' field last weekend. Not to mention the impact if parts of the lantern were eaten. Or if they get into hay or feed. Or if they landed while still alight... Or imagine a cat or dog getting tangled in the debris...
So, could the Bridezillas on here bear this in mind when they make plans for their happy day please?

You have to remember what a continuously damp climate we have jabberwocky. Some people don't take the idea of wildfire seriously because of that.

I can see that there is something nice about letting it go to float up into the air, which obv lanterns on a pond wouldn't quite capture
but basically lighting stuff is always fun

You were right to begin with Cupcakes.

Dont be cowed by the ban-it crowd They exist purely to suck the joy out of life.

We went to a festival this summer and people were letting these off over the tents - thankfully nothing happened but having seen a tent go up it just doesn't bare thinking about what could have happened.

ccpccp - I suspect people like you suck the joy out of life actually

The whole idea of society is that we try not to do something that will endanger others. But I'm sure there's a cave out there you can go set fire to stuff in.

They are pretty but having seen them come down very low over our tents this summer, I would definitely support a ban. They're fine in Thailand but they really aren't in the UK.

i really can't see the appeal, they seem quite childish to me. can't you just experiement with lighting fag papers and seeing how long you can hold them for.

goblinchild, that does make sense to a degree. I never thought of that. I clicked on the link and they do look pretty but much safer floating in a pond as someone mentioned earlier on the thread.

YANBU.

I don't think the legislature should waste its time banning them though - how would you draft something that wasn't overly broad (and end up banning, for example, lanterns that could be floated on the pond or strung from trees). If the real issue is the letting them off and them causing harm to animals or property then SURELY we have legislation that already bans such activity?!

I think raising awareness and societal approbation (like these sorts of threads and the letters to wedding venues) will work well enough to stop the trend of these lanterns anyhow, no?

No there isn't any existing legislation chaya, hence the call for some to be introducte

Having never released on,would it be possible to tie cotton to the lantern, so it could go, but not fly away?

Just ban them from sale, they are dangerous.
"People just need to be careful using them and put them in the trash."
I think we are talking about different things. You can't put something in the trash if it's a couple of miles away from where you launched it, in a tree.
This is what I'm talking about.

So, you light them, let them go and they float prettily off into the distance. Hoping that the flame goes out before they land. If they are the wire-free ones you hope that it all gets burnt up before it lands. In my first post I linked to the NFU article. I can't see why an organisation like the NFU would waste time and resources unless this was a significant problem.

"If the real issue is the letting them off and them causing harm to animals or property then SURELY we have legislation that already bans such activity?!"

No, there isn't legislation banning this sort of activity. That's mad isn't it?

ccpccp - I am all for not banning things where the risk is purely to the person who chose to do them and doesn't affect anyone else.
But letting off a fire balloon that might come down on a random person's house or kill a random person's pony is a bit, you know, inconsiderate.

blimey had never heard of them til that link.are they a wedding thang then.stick to bagpipes no one harmed or tangled in them

Apart from everyone else's ears, Scottishmummy

Ummmm...wouldn't this be covered by tort law - negligence. Or criminal law - reckless endangerment, arson etc.

Really don't see how this differs from sending any other piece of flaming material off in to someone else's property and it causing harm. Hence I don't see why there should be a specific ban.

Yes it is sethstarkaddersmum, except the risks are being blown out of all proportion.

Even the NFU article uses phrases like 'could' and 'what if'.

Perhaps the approach is wrong. Instead of banning, perhaps we just need a campaign to get a Minister For Ponies position created in Government?

Saw something glowing outside my front door on a windy night last week, looked out the window and saw a guy from over the road walking away down my path holding one, burning away - freaked me out until i realised what it was - they had obviously launched it and it had blown straight into my house. Hearing these stories, now I realise I was right to be freaked out after all.

but these go a long way so you'd never be able to prove who had set it off.

indeed.like who threw the infamous MoJo pie.of the hundreds of greasy pies that pelted him.couldnt attribute it to the accused ronald taylor,case collapsed

Me and dh hate those things. We lost a barn because of one of these. If it wasnt for our shepherd spotting it it could have been much worse. We managed to put the fire out just before it reached the hay/straw barn. which had it gone up I dont bear thinking about how we would cope the winter(any farm/horsey people will sympathise). Had it have landed another few feet away it would have been right on top of the stables or the cow sheds both of which were ocupied by animals at the time.
We had planned on converting the barn into studio flats for use by our casual labourers who come to help out during harvest ect. But now they will have to make do with the usual crappy claped out slightly dated caravans and use the very cold outside loo and shower room that is litraly a brick shed affectionately know as the 'shit house'.

crickey they cause that much damage!that is dreadful.never heard of them til now

yanbu