Am I alone in being slightly nauseated by the crass, extravagant, contemporary versions of the 'bread and circuses' of the old world? I mean, of course, those pointless, boring, tasteless firework displays that various big cities around the globe feel impelled to show off every New Year's night as though it somehow reflected well on their endeavours. It doesn't! These are the metropolitan equivalents of the sort of prats who smother their houses and gardens in ghastly garish Christmas lights. On top of that, the eye-wateringly huge amounts of money spent on these pointless exhibitions simply demonstrates the coarse stupidity of both the plebs who dream them up and the plebs who actually go out and stand in the freezing cold to watch them. They should just give the money to the likes of the Salvation Army and to Mercy Ships.