NIGEL THORNTON: Somebody needs a rocket up their...

I was sound asleep when the new year came in – one of the pitfalls of having a toddler and a baby – and even the fireworks in Cathedral Square didn’t disturb my slumber.

Hang on a minute – fireworks in Cathedral Square?

What on earth was that all about? The last time I looked – which must have been more recently than the good people of Cambridgeshire Constabulary – the setting off of fireworks (even a sparkler) in a public place was against the law!

I really don’t understand why the police turned a blind eye and let revellers let off these fireworks?

They are very lucky there wasn’t a terrible accident and no-one suffered a blind eye.

Let’s face it the people letting off these fireworks –and these weren’t pretty little catherine wheels, they were heavy duty pyrotechnics – had probably been drinking as had many of the spectators. Drinking and fireworks now there’s an incendiary mix. There was, we are told, a heavy police presence but no arrests and no attempts to stop this blatant law-breaking.

Some might think I’m just being a killjoy. Maybe, but if there had been an accident most people would have said “why did the police allow it?’’

It’s like the so-called cruise events – there’s no real problem with them... until there is a problem and a car ploughs into 50 people.

The police might claim that it was all good-natured but how could they know it would pass off safely?

People quite rightly get fed up with this low-level law breaking and the police’s attitude to it.

The police can bleat all they like about budget cuts (and I’ve gone on record several times to voice my opposition to those) but they have to find a way to do their job.

And their job in this case was stopping the letting off of fireworks in a public place – because it is against the law.

A cunning plan

The news that the trusts that run Peterborough City Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital are joining forces in a bid to save cash received a mixed reaction. Given the hospitals’ financial track records I just hope this isn’t the NHS’s version of Dumb & Dumber.

Lightbulb on

The Green Square in Long Causeway – although confusingly its circular in design – is a welcome addition to the city centre public realm work.

Not least because the lightbulb has finally gone on and the planners have twigged that putting bins at head height next to people sitting on the benches is a nonsense.

Back in May last year I wrote: “They should have consulted with me when they planned the improvements for Long Causeway. Because in one small but very significant way they have got it wrong. Who wants to sit on a bench and have somebody walk up beside them and stub out a cigarette inches from their head, or to empty the smelly remnants of their fast food meal?’’

RIP? No chance

David Bowie: great artist, seen him in concert, got most of his albums, sad for his family and friends, didn’t know him personally, not really interested in what David Cameron thinks about him, not in the

SLIGHTEST bit interested in Piers Morgan’s thoughts.

Pompeii-borough

The remarkable discovery of a 3,000 year-old Bronze Age settlement in Whittlesey has been compared to Pompeii because a cataclysmic event preserved it – in this case a fire.

The archaeologists have refused to say whether on not they have found the remains of a wheelie bin pushed up against the door of one of the roundhouses.

Diary Of A Bad Dad

It was like the bad old days at Thornton Towers as we endured a sleepless night. Poor old Toddler T developed a distressing cough that kept her, and the rest of the household, awake.

At about 5am we all gave up on our beds and headed to the lounge to watch Alvin & The Chipmunks on a loop thanks to our Skybox.

Once she was up Toddler T perked up no end and as she bombed around the lounge and trampolined on the settee you wouldn’t know she was ill (unlike me who only needs the hint of a sniffle to lose the use of my legs).

It turns out Toddler T has a nasty case of viral tonsillitis. The doctor remarked: “Her tonsils are huge, they’ll be painful too.’’

Mrs T shot me a look, but she didn’t have to... I already felt guilty about making her eat all her carrots the night before!

As I headed out of the door to go to work (inwardly and secretly punching the air) I offered sympathy to Mrs T who had stretching in front of her a long day with a poorly but ridiculously energetic toddler and a fighting fit climbing, walking, 14-month-old bundle of mischief.

“Be a good girl and if you feel like a nap today it’s okay,’’ I said gently.

Mrs T turned and headed up the stairs. “Oi,’’ I shouted, “I wasn’t talking to you.’’