Hey All,
I think it probably depends a lot upon where you live as to whether you find fireworks to be a nuisance or not. I used to live in a small town (Stroud in Gloucestershire) and do not remember having issues there with antisocial behaviour relating to fireworks.
I have lived in Birmingham for the past 7 years and there is a noticeable difference here. From pretty much as soon as the clocks go back, there are people setting off fireworks randomly almost every night - not as part of an attractive display, but usually just an extremely loud bang every now and then. It means that people with dogs cannot walk them after dark (and when it starts getting dark before people leave work, that means the dogs don't get walked), because the worst thing you can do for a dog who is scared of fireworks is to force them to "face their fear". Sometimes fireworks go off in daylight around here too, which is really frustrating. These problems will continue until Spring.
I am a veterinary surgeon working for an animal charity and therefore have seen first hand the problems fireworks cause for animals, whether it be actual injury or severe distress (which can then of course lead to injury as an animal flees to escape the noise). I also have a 5 month old baby who has been sleeping with baby ear defenders on for several nights recently because the bangs are so sudden, loud and difficult to predict, that they wake him up.
So based on my experiences here, I would be in favour of limiting fireworks to organised displays only, which I think tend to be a much better spectacle - designed to look beautiful rather than just to produce the loudest band possible. Anyone in agreement may wish to sign the official e-petition on this subject, which should trigger a Parliamentary debate if 100,000 signatures are collected before August 2012. Here is the link:
epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/2900