OCCUPIED COUNTRY

Thriller

When it was still the 1970s, there was no such thing as "Trick or Treat" here in the sceptered Isle known as Britain. At the most you would have been pestered by a few kids knocking on your door and singing (at least round these parts) "We Come a-Cob-a-Coaling".

Nowadays everything has changed. Suddenly the whole capitalistic jamboree that Halloween has now become, is threatening to take over the autumn. I can see in the near future, a joint, one week *celebration* that takes in both Halloween AND Guy Fawkes Night. This will necessitate at least 7 weeks of selling, purchasing and the letting off of loud, barely legal, fireworks.

Amazing really; the celebration of Pagan ritual, allied with the celebration of a thwarted Catholic coup in a - supposedly - secular country that still - automatically - elevates Bishops to the House of Lords.

Do you know who I blame for all this ? Well, I will tell you: Stephen frigging Speilberg that's who. If that bastard hadn't made such a big thing out of the "Trick or Treat" scene in ET, the whole edifice of Halloween might - just might - have never gained a foothold here in the European hinterland.

Naturally, unscrupulous bastards Big Business has picked up on this and is over the moon at being able to sell, to a gullible public, tat of the highest order.

The entire thing is a mere 20 years old !! WTF ?