Japanese knotweed or treat?

Published on 02-11-2009 by Dr Paul Beckett

I know it’s a touch late, but I noticed this article that likens the increase in celebrating Halloween by trick-or-treating to the invasive spread of Japanese knotweed.

The act of performing tricks on people who don’t deliver treats to costumed children was introduced as an “exotic” foreign activity in the 1980s and has since spread to become an expected part of British Halloween. Hmm… I suppose it’s a bit like Japanese knotweed; although I imagine Japanese knotweed is considered a bigger pain to more people than a bunch of kids dressed as vampires. Having said that, I’ve never had a bag of burning dog poo dumped on my doorstep…