I so agree with Andrew Moore and have tried to raise the issue of Christmas lights with other councils.

Given we are told that the UK only has a week’s worth of electricity at all times, that we suffer from light pollution and that we should be sparing with our use of this commodity, it beggars belief that lights go up everywhere within at least a month of Christmas if not sooner. And then there is the cost. I worked on Regent Street back in the fifties and sixties, the lights came on two weeks before Christmas and were so much more appreciated than they are now. Christmas was nowhere nearly as commercial then and the true meaning of Christmas was recognised even by non-believers. Our country has truly lost its way.

D DONALD Via email