HOUSEHOLDERS dreading the onslaught of firework foolery should have cause for celebration.

Thanks to the power of the people, including 6,000 from the Leigh area, new laws to crack down on the menace have been given Royal assent.

Unfortunately we're still unlikely to be able to sleep easily in our beds this year -- the Act does not come into force until 2004.

Why on earth should it take so long to go into the statute book?

Surely to goodness people don't have to withstand another year of misery without some action being taken against the banger buffoons?

Perhaps retailers and the powers that be will act in the spirit of the new law so that everyone can have fun this November without causing distress to the elderly and animals.