Can I yet again make a heartfelt plea for the cancellation of the ducking stool and scold's bridle event this year. It is demeaning and it is insulting to women.

By the same token can we please abandon the witch trials which have been the cause of so much trouble in past years. Let's face it. Anyone who has the misfortune to be swum in the river Blither is more likely to come out with a bad case of typhus than a tarnished reputation.

Mind you, I do agree that the stocks and pillory seats should be retained. Just the place to lock up the previous nights' drunks and ticket dodgers. Come to think of it, why not combine that event with the bodhran throwing competition?

On second thoughts, scrub that suggestion. The aim of some of those bodhran throwers is so bad they'd hit everyone in the festival except the ones in the stocks.