THE ballot boxes had hardly been piled away after last June's General Election before Sally Morgan, a Downing Street aide of Tony Blair, was elevated into Baroness Morgan. Not only was she made a life peer, but she was also given a front-bench post as minister in charge of women's issues.

Believing that no one should be in government who is not elected to the task, this column took a dim view of Lady Morgan's appointment - and said so. But her peerage and Government job turns out to have been merely a consolation prize.

For Sally Morgan had lost a power struggle inside Number 10 to be one of Tony Blair's closest advisers. Political secretary to the Prime Minister until June, she was ousted by colleague Anji Hunter, a friend of Blair since schooldays, who became his "director of political and government relations".

It says much for the influence wielded by such largely-unseen and unknown appointees that Ms Morgan's peerage and ministerial post, based in the Cabinet Office, was evidently inferior to the backstage job.

However, Sally has now regained what we must assume is real power. Anji Hunter's loyalty to Blair, rewarded with a large pay increase that lifted her salary to £120,000 a year, hasn't inhibited her from taking a job with BP. It is said that one of her greatest assets will be her contacts book.

Soon to fill Anji's place in Downing Street, Lady Morgan will therefore give up her work on women's issues. But how much attention has she devoted to this anyway? A spokesman for Tony Blair admits that she never really left No 10, where she continued to attend meetings, not all of which would have women's issues on the agenda. Maybe this is one reason why Anji has quit.

Certainly, the impression of in-fighting like chickens in a sack, with a seat in government regarded as the lesser prize, presents a singularly unappealing picture, doesn't it?

HALF the people in Britain now let off fireworks every night. The other half is sick to death of it. At least that's how it seems. In fact, the number of people letting off fireworks is small. And, except around Guy Fawkes' night, they do it mostly at weekends.

But to have no weekend free of the ever louder and more frequent explosions is bad enough. So bad, in fact, that virtually everyone not letting off the fireworks agrees that "something should be done".

This column said so months ago. I identified fireworks' noise among a number of "quality of life" issues on which one might once have confidently expected action from a Labour government.

The downside of fireworks is more than the loss of precious peace and quiet and stress to animals. For confused people, especially elderly sufferers from dementia, the unexpected explosions can give the frightening illusion of war. Fireworks should be withdrawn from general sale. Displays should be licensed, by magistrates or the local authority, and allowed only to mark community occasions.