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tjj wrote: moss wrote: The reporter was Tristan Cork, a rather sensible discussion was my first reaction, and still is.
Thanks Moss. I was particularly interested in this observation -
"And then, and then. There are the ravers. They come just for the party. It's a legal rave with djembe drums rather than techno beats, it's outdoors but it's cool, man. It's in the middle of Stonehenge, man. It's chaos, it's epic, it's carnage, it's mayhem, it's sick, man. These are the people I attempt to interview to get "a flavour" of the solstice. They are the adjectives they use.
If they weren't at Stonehenge they would be at a festival, or falling out of a nightclub in a provincial town, or getting lairy in Faliraki. This is the youth of this sceptred isle and they are claiming their birthright."
There are plenty of legal 'raves' around and they all cost money to attend. Illegal ones too - which almost always lead to arrests by the police who turn up as soon as they get wind of it. I personally don't think Stonehenge should be used for a free rave ... sorry to be a fuddy duddy.
Living as I did in Somerset for many years, the montage of photos that came before local news, one was of heavily armed police at Stonehenge , baton wielding, helmeted, shields , this was our view for many years; freeing the stones was a victory. Stonehenge by its very presence makes its own history, part of that history is neo-druidism, and people coming together to watch the sun rising, or the end of the pagan winter year. I know we can all scoff at pagans, though actually I respect them, moan about the clutter of people round the stones or the vandalism that takes place but in the end I believe that it is up to the relevant bodies that run and are in charge to make the decisions....
This does not mean that I accept what happens when people get out of hand, you have only to look at our football attendees to understand bad behaviour.
But I would also point to the Glastonbury festival, it took years to build the right security fence and employ enough security people to to keep the free riders out, it was/is almost a military operation, and still the local folk don't like it.
And to return to 'ravers' Cork does end his account with this....
"But one simple "no alcohol" rule could make a difference. At the moment, there's supposedly a limit – the equivalent of four cans of lager – but it's widely flouted by everyone. Banning booze from the stones will make it less fun for the ravers and safer for the stones. But then, I would say that. As a reporter at the solstice I'm often the only sober one there."
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