I read in the paper today that 12 people were arrested at Download this weekend. Is that all? I would have expected it to be far higher than that. To be honest though it surprises me how few arrests there are at music festivals.

In all my time going to festivals (6 years) I've only ever heard of one arrest and that was my mate Brod who got arrested at V2002 for knicking an inflatable chair from someone else's camp! I know V is nowhere near as bad as some of the other festivals, but I'm sure there were more worthy causes to arrest!

It makes me laugh every year when I come back and I see articles on Reading and Leeds saying that this year is a record year for low arrests, low violence etc. When the truth is its going on but people are either turning a blind eye or they don't realise the full extent of it.

At Leeds 2004, a drunken 15 year old set fire to a tree branch with lighter fluid and set the tent next to us on fire, with 2 people in it. We all know how flammable tents are! Luckily we managed to put it out for them, they could have been burnt alive! Last year at Reading, one guy lost an eye after a flying gas canister incident, my friends had drunken teenagers tring to tip their car over after they left the campsite, there was exploding canisters, fires, lights being pulled down and the whole campsite was a complete mess. On a Sunday night I always fear for my safety- that's why I no longer stay on a Sunday night.

To be honest you don't know who to blame- there's always a small minority of people who ruin it for everyone else. I'm not saying that these things ruin festivals cause they don't- but it seems to be like a secret cult in that all the festival goers know what goes on, but the general public, police etc are oblivious. It's like a dirty secret.