Arab Terrorists on the Bonfire

It's always struck me as odd that we symbolise a fair amount of torture in our society. Even in religion we often worship a tortured young man, nailed to a cross by his hands and his ankles, and stabbed through the side with a spear. A gory vision that we often wear replicas of around our necks and place pictures of in our houses. Other religions must see Christianity as a weird sort of cult that worships torture.

And then, of course, there's Guy Fawkes. Now by all accounts he wasn't such a bad guy (no pun intended). His intention was to blow up an autocratic king who was stealing from the population and wrecking the country. He didn't even succeed. In fact, he didn't blow anyone up at all.

And yet we symbolically burn him every year on November 5th.

So this year I think I'll burn an Arab terrorist. If you're going to burn someone who's plotted death and destruction, then you might as well burn someone who's succeeded. My "guy" this year will wear an anorak and baggy jeans and have a rucksack on his back.