Merry Christmas from me & Irn Bru

I think Irn Bru's "Snowman" ad from last year is one of the best pieces of Christmas advertising ever. Hope you have a tremendous Christmas, and I'll be back blogging more frequently post-Festive season.

Merry Christmas!

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Potential Christmas #1

In solidarity with Scottish Tory Boy's campaign to see a better version of "Hallelujah" make the Christmas Number One spot... what about this version from the Chris Moyles Show?

He is right though - Jeff Buckley's version of it is the best cover by a mile.

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Mistletoe and whine

This is a short post because I'm incredibly busy. Someone thought it a good idea to have "some friends" over on Friday night... and "some friends" has turned into "almost everyone we know" (but not really) and thus there is loads to be done - alongside all the reading I have to get through, presents to wrap, politicians to mock...

Anyway, I wander off topic. This is really a response to my last post and a question I want to ask people who read this:

Are those people who classify themselves as "atheists" or those who do not subscribe to Christian beliefs hypocrites if they indulge in present giving or any other feature of the Christmas holiday?

A question that has been bothering me for a while. Guess if the answer is yes then we're talking about a huge percentage of the population.

I don't know if I think it or not - I just wondered if there was anyone with a strong view on the issue?

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Now here's a line I didn't expect to be writing any time soon:

I agree with Boris Johnson, Iain Dale and Tom Harris MP.

And I'll tell you why.

Boris is appearing at the GLA Christmas Carol Service - and apparently annoyed some of his staff by putting out a press release calling it just that - a Christmas Carol Service. Apparently the PC brigade in his office had it down as a "Multi-Faith Concert."

But that's not all. Apparently the Christmas Tree for City Hall has to have "no Christian symbols, colours or fairies... [no] political colours... [and] no star or fairy." A Christmas Tree devoid of anything that symbolises Christmas.

Now I accept that we now live in what could be described as a multi-faith society. And I'm all for making that easier for everyone - tolerance of each other for their different beliefs etc makes for a better society. But this is ridiculous.

Christmas IS a Christian holiday. There's no getting away from it. And if that offends people then they need to take a look at themselves and think about why they get up in the morning. Okay, historians will tell you that the date was half-inched from Pagans who had a celebration in late December and that a lot of what goes on - the trees, decorations etc - have also been taken from that holiday. But, at its base, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and a celebration of that. Whether you believe in God or not, whether you accept Christianity or not, the reality of the situation is that we wouldn't be celebrating Christmas if it were not for Christianity.

So when you are sitting on Christmas Day opening presents or eating your 17th sausage wrapped in bacon (a personal record!) remember why.

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