The gospel according to TK Maxx?

I’m a regular at retail store TK Maxx. I get all my shirts there, so I go in regularly to rummage.

In early August, I was startled to see Halloween gear already on display. Doesn’t Halloween come earlier every year? No surprise really: it’s now reckoned to be the UK’s biggest festival after Christmas. That’s strange for a Gen-Xer like me. In the 1980s, Bonfire Night was far more exciting; sparklers, fireworks, a giant bonfire plus the thrill of burning “the guy,” usually made from second-hand clothes stuffed with straw or newspaper. Written down, it sounds a bit Wicker Man, doesn’t it?

Fast forward 40 years: Guy Fawkes Night is now an awkward reminder of the violent death of a Catholic traitor, at a time when Roman Catholics are as likely as Anglicans to be in church. Maybe that’s why it’s been eclipsed by the revival of Halloween.