MANY good things have come to us from the United States.

Danny Kaye, hot dogs and hamburgers.

The musical Guys and Dolls, Buddy Holly, Meg Ryan and Alistair Cook’s letters are just a few.

Regrettably this list is let devalued by the contrived hokum that is Halloween.

This used to be an occasion when Christians remembered the dead, especially saints and martyrs.

It was known as All Hallows’ Eve.

The day or evening has now been hi-jacked.

It is commercially encouraged secular celebration of the worst sort.

Happily, however scary people endeavour to make this wretched evening they usually fail.

Be honest how many of you have actually been frightened?

I worry about the pressure on parents to buy the costumes and masks that are to be seen everywhere.

The expense is unnecessary, after all it is for one silly night only.

The occasion is given too much publicity and too much attention. A sense of perspective is certainly needed on October 31 and thereabouts.

At home I have given in.

With Mrs Light I now watch Strictly Come Dancing.

If the rehearsed utterances of the judges are ignored it is a pleasing programme to watch.

Not at Halloween.

It is a vehicle for silly stunts that are trivial, unfunny and frankly boring.

Stick with what you do bests BBC.

Forget pseudo horror and give us another edition of a harmless dancing programme.

Do not sully it with such boring injections of pseudo horror.

The only Halloween activity I remember from my childhood is apple bobbing.

This was not something specifically for October 31 but occurred around that time.

I indulged in on just a few occasions.

It was cold, I got wet and managed very few bites of the apples which bobbed up and down in a water butt.

Nonetheless,it was a more honourable activity than dressing up as a ghost and attempting to be scary.

I am sure it is now far too late to eradicate this tasteless, shallow American import, but there is hope.

Surely Cotswold residents have more common sense than to allow it to encroach further on to our activities.

Better still produce something with true wit that rises above the lowest common denominator of American twaddle.