Argument over London fireworks

[LJRT]

Not sure if this is the correct topic for this but I just would like some of your views/thoughts.

So this morning me and husband had a small disagreement about the London fireworks last night. Being from London my self, I love them it brings back childhood memories,I love what they resemble and how London does them and I thought last nights were great and done safely and secretly not causing crowding

He however completely disagrees with this. (He is not from London) he says they have rewarded the ignorant rule breakers who went out to still try and watch them and get a glimpse. (As well saw a video in Facebook where people were not social distanced and probably came from afar into London). I did argue the toss saying you dont know if these people live in Central London and went for a walk and its also good that London did have them for the millions of people who have listened to the rules and did stay home. He says it's not nessecaru a waste of money and he sees it as hospitality when thats closed why are they letting off a huge public firework display

Anyway...Its put me in a foul mood all day with him but then again his one of these people that has to have an awnser for every conversation and will gladly stick his point of view into anything you don't agree with . I love the man dearly but his fucked me off and he knows he has as his been trying to be all nice nice all day. So yeah what's your thoughts on the fireworks

Well, at any other time I might have agreed with your husband ref the cost/pandemic etc.
But as they managed to piss off the leavers and have caused the Daily Mailers to froth I think it was money well spent and I am in complete agreement with you.
I'm a Londoner with little regard for Sadiq Khan btw.

Didn't see them but, yes, if they encouraged people to go out and see them then that is stupid. Thought I might watch on iplayer but read how 'woke,' they are (BLM and NHS) so can't be bothered now.

Secret fireworks...so no one was told they were happening, so why bother... Just Cgi something together from old shows and shove it on YouTube. Cheap as chips and no noise or environmental pollution.

I'm a life long Londoner and thought the way they pulled it off was great. It was a nice surprise.

Oddly, I don't give a fuck about fireworks ( I'd ban them) or London. I think you could both find better stuff to worry about.

@TheWordWomanIsTaken

Well, at any other time I might have agreed with your husband ref the cost/pandemic etc. But as they managed to piss off the leavers and have caused the Daily Mailers to froth I think it was money well spent and I am in complete agreement with you. I'm a Londoner with little regard for Sadiq Khan btw.

Eh wtf did it have to do with how people voted in the referendum?

@Calmandmeasured1 is your bar so low that BLM and the NHS are considered “woke”

I'm a Londoner and I loved the celebration. It was an apt, wonderful recount of the year.

@Calmandmeasured1 I'd love to hear more about why you think including BLM and the NHS is "woke" and now "you're not going to bother to watch the show"?

YABU. I agree with everything your DH said.

I didn't watch because I'd heard there would be no fireworks. So big waste of money to put them on and keep it a secret.

@DynamoKev The DM bigots and Leavers were frothing at the BLM symbol and the turtle showing a globe that centred Africa, and the EU flag made by the drone light display. I won't link to the story because, well DM. You'll find all this on twitter.

The light display also showed Major Tom and honoured the NHS. It was a sort of pastiche of 2020 historical moments.

I loved it.

Calmandmeasured1 is your bar so low that BLM and the NHS are considered “woke”
Yep

Yeah I’d be telling him to fuck off! There weren’t crowds there! How did he know people travelled in from outside bloody London to watch? Doubt it some how
He sounds annoying!

I thought they were great tbh and really enjoyed them!

They were paid for by London council tax payers - so if your husband doesn’t live in London then he didn’t even fund them so what does it even matter to him 😂

At a time when money is so tight that the whole of the London Assembly and ever expanding staff (mostly PR people) have to relocate from City Hall to somewhere in Docklands to save money, I find it extraordinary that there is a spare £1.5M for this - I resent my Council tax being spent on this. The Labour party should be funding this pre-election expense.

I thought they were great. The daily mail is oddly huffy about how “woke” they were but they didn’t strike me as wildly different in tone to the Olympic opening ceremony that was arranged on Boris’ watch. The values and political leanings of Londoners are to the left of the country as a whole and the display definitely played to the mood of the city rather than the nation, but that’s only to be expected. They are in London, paid for by Londoners and arranged by the London mayor. There was nothing party political there and if Boris was still mayor then I think they would have been mostly the same as it’s a progressive city. I was really glad they went ahead.

I thought the big groups of people out in London last night were there for an anti-lockdown protest 'party' ? Obviously utter pillocks. But not there for fireworks. That was a pretty well-kept secret, friends in London who work on organising big events and who normally know all the inside info had no idea it was happening.

The fireworks and drones were at the O2 (millennium dome), also the Shard and Tower Bridge. I assumed those disparate areas were chosen on purpose to discourage anyone from going to watch it the news leaked.

Some people will always whinge about stuff. Just tune your H out.

Well I was just pissed off that I didn’t know about them and they weren’t on itv at midnight! Stayed up with the big kids til midnight only to get big Ben’s bongs and massively depressing headlines. Can’t believe I missed it on bbc! Just thought it was an Alicia keys music thing on there 🤦‍♀️

@Calmandmeasured1 I needed a chuckle 🤭 👍

I don't care about fireworks or London. However in the current climate there's probably better things they could have used that money for.

I loved them : ) lovely surprise!

I personally really enjoyed the show (am a Londoner in case that's relevant).

It is a shame that there were gatherings, however from the news I have seen today, police forces across the country are reporting having broken up and fined groups all over the country, so I am not convinced the display was a specific draw.

Yes they cost money, however they were funded by London council tax, not from the central government coffers, do not taking funds away from NHS etc.

They could have played fireworks from any other year, who would have known. Waste of time and money imo...

I'm a Londoner and I absolutely loved them, didn't watch last night as obviously didn't know about it but saw it on catch-up today. It brought a tear to my eye, and I am usually as emotional as an old boot.

I think it reflected the mood of the city really well and given that it's funded by my council taxes collected in an area that overwhelmingly voted to remain I don't give a fuck that it pissed off the Brexiteers - the DM frothing is frankly the icing on the cake.

You can always argue that spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on explosions is a waste of money that could go to better causes, I don't agree that it's any more the case this year, but I would argue that we are in far greater need of anything that can lift spirits and make us feel more connected with each other.

I also liked the drones and hope to see more of these as an alternative to fireworks, much quieter and won't scare my cats!

Eh? They had the fireworks? I was thinking it was a good thing money would be saved and could be spend on transport or something. Oh well. Hope some people enjoyed them.

Oh...it was so secret I didn't even know it happened?

Did it happen?

This is the first I've heard of it!