Britain’s Glow Problem: MPs Debate Wireless Interference

When Neon Crashed the Airwaves

Looking back, it feels surreal: in June 1939, just months before Britain plunged into war, Parliament was wrestling with the problem of neon interfering with radios.

Labour firebrand Gallacher, rose to challenge the government. Were Vivid Neon London installations scrambling the airwaves?

The answer was astonishing for the time: the Department had received nearly one thousand reports from frustrated licence-payers.

Imagine it: the soundtrack of Britain in 1938, interrupted not by enemy bombers but by shopfront glow.

Postmaster-General Major Tryon admitted the scale of the headache. But here’s the rub: there was no law compelling interference suppression.

He promised consultations were underway, but admitted consultations would take "some time".

Which meant: more static for listeners.

The MP wasn’t satisfied. He pushed for urgency: speed it up, Minister, people want results.

From the backbenches came another jab. If neon was a culprit, weren’t cables buzzing across the land just as guilty?

Tryon deflected, admitting it made the matter "difficult" but offering no real solution.

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From today’s vantage, it feels rich with irony. Neon was once painted as the noisy disruptor.

Fast forward to today and it’s the opposite story: neon is the endangered craft fighting for survival, while plastic LED fakes flood the market.

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What does it tell us?

Neon has always been political, cultural, disruptive. It’s always forced society to decide what kind of light it wants.

Second: every era misjudges neon.

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The Smithers View. We see the glow that wouldn’t be ignored.

Call it quaint, call it heritage, but it’s a reminder. And it always will.

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Don’t settle for plastic impostors. Glass and gas are the original and the best.

If neon got MPs shouting in 1939, it deserves a place in your space today.

Choose the real thing.

You need it.

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