OK so you are talking Europe-wide then, right? You are saying that major cities throughout Europe allow people to throw fireworks in the street and they somehow do it responsibly and no one gets hurt?`

Why are you trying to aggrandise what I said? I said there are places all over Europe that manage to host and allow people to throw fireworks.

I didn't say Europe-wide. These are my experiences, whether you believe them or not is ok, you haven't seen it. I get that you'd find it hard to believe. I was looking at throwing up some pictures or stills from footage which I've taken over the years but with AI and what not, I'm not sure you'd believe that either.

Because I’m just trying to point out that that’s not actually right. I’m confident that every major urban area where there are events where the public freely throw fireworks in the street has a massive injury problem and property damage associated with it.

Quite a few places in Spain throw fireworks around, just like the Chinese do in festivals. People get do get injured, it's not a perfect science - they don't call for banning because someone got injured. It's not all over the news every year calling for a ban because little Muffin is scared of the noise, or how Keith blew his knackered off for a viral video.

Germany is where I have most experience with this, having lived there for several years. They go absolutely mental with fireworks every new year. From about 6pm until 2am, in most major cities, fireworks are set off willy-nilly. People launch them from empty beer bottles, which not surprisingly often fall over. I’ve seen countless fireworks exploding in crowds, one time a firework skittered across the street and blew up right underneath a baby buggy. Needless to say, the baby was distraught. I’ve also seen someone run into the middle of a crossroads, put a large drum thing on the road and light it, it exploded with the most stupendous bang right as a car went past it. I was drinking outside one time when a firework went through an upstairs window down the street and set the apartment on fire. It is absolutely crazy and there is nothing responsible about it.

Witnessed similar events, but again, noone is calling for a ban. Usually with kids throwing fireworks at each other, there are designated places where people can do that, but kids just letting off normal fireworks - that's done in the street.

I don’t know if France or Spain tolerate people setting off fireworks in the street like they do in Germany and the Netherlands. I suspect it’s not tolerated in Spain, I don’t recall anyone letting fireworks off in the street the one time I was there for NYE.

Let me help you forfeit your suspicions. I've been there when Police have been right next to fireworks exploding, I've not witnessed police throwing any on active duty but I'm 100% sure they're normal people with kids and they do the same. It most certainly is tolerated. I've been in South America and Central America and they'll set fireworks off for birthdays, weddings. People do release fireworks, some places more than most, but generally it's accepted without the fuss that I've seen in the UK press. Admittedly, I only understand a few of the European languages but generally the Press don't seem to go on the warpath every year and people generally seem more responsible.

I’m afraid I don’t believe it’s any different in any large cities where this happens. The UK isn’t a reckless outlier amongst a sea of responsible and yet pyromaniac European countries. Either the public do not routinely let off fireworks in the street - like in the UK for instance - or they do, and it’s absolute chaos and many people are injured and thousands of pounds of damage is caused.

Here's this from Trip advisor on Bastille Day in Paris, France. Does that consistute a large city to you?

I was in Paris for Bastille Day several years ago and also in front of the Eiffel Tower to ring in the Millenium. On both occasions people did have fire crackers but they weren't throwing them at people. Most of the time, they cleared a space in the crowd to set them off. Be forewarned though that European firecrackers aren't like the little Black Cat crackers here in the U.S. They're more like massive cherry bombs and they're REALLY loud...like gunshot loud.

Look, I absolutely love fireworks and combustion is an amazing science. I've been to so many firework festivals that I've lost count and I will continue going - they're pretty special. I've seen some absolute dicks (generally men and boys) but for the majority of the time, people take care of the issue themselves and don't go to the press or police to gripe about everything the day after. It's mostly an accepted risk during the festivals.