So when the woman in England’s Midlands got the official note that her gnomes had to go, did the official really think they were a fire hazard or just seized an opportunity to reduce the population by two?  (The gnome owner has prevailed – garden gnomes not currently deemed a fire hazard…)  It does seem amazing how many people love them (25 million garden gnomes in Germany alone?) and hate them e.g. the gnome factory in New Zealand that was destroyed by arson.  Reading the Wikipedia entry on garden gnomes doesn’t really clear much up – except that you will know more about garden gnomes than anyone really ought to such as the last survivor of the first set introduced to England is insured for approximately 1.5 million dollars. Why?