please empty your brain below

So how would you have handled the situation as you've presented it, DG? Easy to moan, but where's your answer?
You think getting in to the exclusion zone will be a problem?

I'm at work today - if all the roads are closed how am I going to get out to go home?
Nothing changes my routine and I shall retire at 10pm as usual. Only hope that locally exploded fireworks do not wake me at midnight. Never could see the point in standing in the cold for a few hours with a lot of drunk people being sick, and then having to queue for a bus or tube home.
As for running costs I know that the Mayor was asking for volunteers to work at this event during the day, like at the Olympics, their reward being a free ticket to the display.

I do not think that there should be a charge for the public to attend.

For a New Year event the Parade on New Years Day is for me a nicer event.

In the past before there were firework displays people used to gather in Trafalgar Square for New Years Eve, I admit I did do that once in my youth.
Have a good time if you go.
"Revellers will be expected to show ID before gaining entry,"

What a fantastic opportunity for pickpockets: every single person will have eg a passport or a driving licence on them. Prepare for identity theft reports to skyrocket.
... and a Happy New Year to you too!
What a stark contrast to tonight's celebrations in Paris...!
Anything free in London now is in danger of being overrun by the masses because with the internet almost everybody knows almost everything that's going on. How about going to bed early and waking for the sunrise to a new year - that's free and easily seen from where you live!
in an ideal world we would be able o wander down to central london and watch the fireworks for free, but unfortunately, like most events in central london it will be f*cking rammed and very unpleasant.

just like the west end every fri/sat night.

london is a victim of it's own sucess. just too many people.
So we live a planet that's around 4.54 billion years old, and some of the current inhabitants celebrate the year '2015', if the spectacle is just for the benefit of TV why not run last years display again - all fireworks look the same, or just CGI the whole thing, you could then end the display by firing Big Ben into the sky.
A couple of years ago I spent a lot of money buying a ticket to be at riverside venue. Complete waste of time and money. Didn't see a single firework as we were downwind of the billowing clouds of smoke. Despite wearing thermals and walking boots I nearly froze to death too. I have other plans for tonight that won't involve watching the tv or standing out in the cold.
David - I read factual commenting, not moaning. But in any case, can we please get away from the idea that you can't criticise something unless you, personally, have a better answer. There's nothing at all wrong with pointing out to the experts/organisers of something that something's not working, and leaving it to them to come up with better ideas. Most people actually welcome that sort of feedback.

Anyway, this seems an apposite moment for me to add my thanks to dg for another year of incredible (and I don't say that lightly) information, entertainment, amusement and food for thought. It is vastly appreciated. (And the capacity to do it not a little envied.)
I live on Wardour Street but did not buy a ticket. Will I be forced out of my home at 8pm?
^ No, but you will be subject to a curfew?
This is yet another manifestation of our population excesses.

The more serious ones are additional runways, need for increased rail capacity, static motorways, inadequate A & E services, etc etc.

When are we EVER going to have a rational debate on how to limit our numbers? Too many immigrants are only the tip of the iceberg.
@Temp - people tend to live longer and sometimes have kids. The debate surely ought to be at the point of planning the whole infrastructure, instead of concentrating on some favourite aspect of it (like academy schools) and cash-starving hospitals, youth clubs and other vital services.

Anyway, let's anticipate a well-deserved Happy New Year to DG and the same to all his readers.
^ The world is not limitless. One can plan as much one likes but the issue is that uncontrolled population growth has to be addressed. A big party on one day of the year is hardly the main problem. Water, food, energy, health and place to live/work are...while some of these issues don't affect "us" now...they may indeed do so in the future.
Wherever you DG and your many readers will be,may I wish everyone a Happy New Year! Personally, after a rather pleasant white wine or three,I shall be in bed by 10,earplugs in. It's only another day! ☺️☺️☺️
Gosh...so others will be in bed before midnight! Maybe, just maybe, I not that grumpy after all. It is just another day...and another year.
Ah... now it all adds up!!!
All those 'London Borough Tops' trips were secretly a way of finding the borough with the best view for the fireworks
Wherever you are, a very Happy New Year! :)
There were definitely fireworks on the Thames on Millennium new year's eve 1999/2000, as my wife and I were there, crammed into Churchill Gardens on the Embankment for several hours waiting to see them go off. The fireworks were OK but the promised 'River of Fire' that was supposed to run along the surface of Thames didn't quite work.

The most memorable part of the evening was slipping away to find a cosy corner on the steps of St John's Smiths Square to drink the bottle of champagne and eat the caviar on toast we'd brought with us. Then the long walk back to west London from one closed tube station to the next until we eventually got a bus. Everyone seemed jolly and relaxed rather than drunk and disorderly, perhaps relieved that we'd all survived the much heralded 'Millennium bug'.
ActonMan, I remember walking through that area on New Year's Day 2000, the grass was covered with very upmarket litter, mainly champagne bottles. I'd watched more local fireworks from my balcony, not so glamorous but much easier to get back to bed from.
maybe DG will get a ticket for the next one?
As a previously regular firework watcher from the scrag end of St James Park (unsurprised to read that's now no longer possible), the wife + I have watched them on telly for the last few years, and to be fair tonight's were possibly the best I've seen. Shame about the Queen impersonators that bookended them.

As to Millennium Eve, my compensation for standing on London Bridge and not seeing the advertised River of Fire was a somewhat 'refreshed' Scotsman randomly handing me a virtually full bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 and then disappearing into the crowd. Maybe not the same cachet as all the champagne bottles I saw lying around, but I bet it kept me warmer!

Happy New Year all.
I must admit I'd actually thought this post was a spoof.
Nope!
I gave up trying to beat the ring of steel around Grays Inn Road and - with only minutes to go - tried walking towards the Aldwych.
There's a lot of tall buildings along the river... more than enough to obscure any views of any fireworks going off! You could smell the gunpowder and hear them (and how!) but for non-ticket holders, that was your lot!
Happy New Year, anyway :)

as for 1999/2000 I was driving around Hyde Park Corner at the moment the fireworks went off and Big Ben hit midnight...I was heading north to go out of London...the drive up the M1 was sheer bliss on a virtually deserted motorway...
I'm generally in agreement with the thrust of your posting with regards to what seems like the relentless move to privatise and ticket public space, and public occasions in London. Tragic events like those at new year in Shanghai though show that perhaps these moves are pragmatic, justified and necessary, sad though that is.
Of course it's allowable to moan about something without having the ghost of an alternative suggestion: just like any UKIP member or grouchy pub bore. But don't expect to be thought interesting for simply whining.
Just read this post. Seems no one has ever been to Edinburgh - paid tickets to control the crowd numbers on Princes Street. Has been that way for a number of years - and it works.

But far be it for a successful, proven, idea to work ...
What a load of old rubbish. DG's ideal state would be all encompassing, cradle to grave not only in terms of care but of organised "fun", and who cares how it's paid for?
What a load of old rubbish.










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