THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

ONE OF THE PROBLEMS ABOUT CHRISTMAS over recent years has been the delicate matter of trying to understand what it is all really about. When the modern idea of Christmas was expanded into its current form during the reign of Queen Victoria, who imported it from Germany and then exported it to many countries throughout Europe through her dozens of children and grandchildren who married into royal households, the spirit was simple, albeit a radical change from the past: the Christmas period was one for being with the family, eating well, exchanging modest gifts with those who came to visit and sharing in moments of peace.

THERE STILL REMAINED A MODICUM OF THE RELIGIOUS element, particularly for the poor, but it was soon cast into second place with the arrival of the Coca-Cola-Company-designed Santa Claus, a figure far more interesting than a little baby sleeping in a barn, particularly as hardly any urban young children had an idea of what a manger was.

SINCE THE NINETEEN-FIFTIES Christmas has morphed into a sort of shopping fever festival, in the early days mainly involving buying toys for children, but by the eighties this had boomed into buying at least one present for every member of the family, including close relatives whom we see every single day of the week. The notion of “peace” among men, however, has dwindled to the point that most Christmas meals involve a family row. This may be due to alcohol, the fact that we have to mix with relatives we hate or the fact that we didn’t get the present we wished for (as for some reason this has become a secretive business).

BUT THE LATEST TWIST IN CHRISTMAS is reflected in the joke made by the late American stand-up comedian George Carlin: “The main reason why Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.” Christmas has become a time for selling sex. In the old innocent days of TV perfume ads the selling point was a scene when a husband would say to his wife, “Honey, you smell so good”, and she would wink at the camera and a picture of a bottle of Chanel Nº 5 would appear at the bottom of the screen.

NOT SO TODAY. One brand shows us a semi-naked woman in a bath and then in bed with an answering-machine (do they still exist?) voice-off begging her for more sex “after yesterday afternoon” (sic); another shows a young couple stripping each other on the stairs on the way to an apartment and having sex before they even manage to open the door; one shows an elegant blonde walking through crowded halls and peeling off her clothes as she goes; a girl is pursued and (presumably) raped by a wolf in another, etc.

CHRISTMAS HAS BECOME LEATHER pencil skirts, black stockings with a line up the back, patent leather stilettos and desperate, violent, hurried sex sessions in any place or position except in a bed. And so, once again at this time of year, I would like to wish all my readers the very best for Christmas, hoping you enjoy it in the true spirit of Christmas 2013.

(Post Script. One chap has electronically mailed me asking whether this means that my desire is for everyone to get a good "shagging", as he put it, at Christmastide, and I suppose that is true. Happy holidays, except for students, who have to go home to their parents, and that is when the shagging stops.)

WHAT DOES THE EUROPEAN UNION SAY?

ONCE AGAIN THE UK is involved in a little spat over what the unelected European commissions and committees think they should be allowed to apply to a legal system that has been in some form "elected" or "chosen" by the people of England for over a thousand years.

 

NO ONE ELECTED DURÃO BARROSO, the much-hated leader of the European Commission (above). No one elected the putty-faced and brainless leader of the European Union, Herman von Pussy-Dumpty. And yet elected governments such as the UK, in this case in a country in which the representation by voter is the most simple and direct in Europe, have to put up with weird rules established by the European Court of Justice.

 

THE LATEST ISSUE WITH THE UK GOVERNMENT has to do with the right to vote by serving prisoners. Prime Minister David Cameron has said this will not happen, and I will personally protest if the idea is accepted by the British Government and the law in England and Wales.

 

IF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WISH TO HAVE their laws made by criminals then that is their business. And I could, without any consultation, reel off a list of French, Spanish and Italian presidents, prime ministers and deputies who have all been found guilty of embezzlement, robbery, thuggery, corruption, pimping and sundry minor crimes of robbing the public purse.

 

SO PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON has asked for clarification on this matter of the voting system, something incompatible with our "first-past-the-post" system. The language used by the European Union documentation is always difficult for us to understand due to the double-talk and off-key translations used by the Brussels authorities. When Prime Minister David Cameron asked the European Parliament about the issue of voting for prisoners, the response was:

 

 

Yaki-yaki-yaki-do Yaki-yaki-yaki-do Yaki-yaki-yaki-do Umm-baba-umm-baba

THE NEW KAISER CHIEFS

I AM FULLY AWARE of the fact that when one writes about the recently deceased Nelson Mandela without swelling fulsome with praise there will be a flurry of criticism similar to what happens whenever I write stating the fact that the absurd "global warming" protesters are just that: absurd.

 

NO ONE CAN DENY that Nelson Mandela suffered for his beliefs and stood defiant in his wish to see a new Republic of South Africa, and his acts were in many ways on the level of those carried out by the great Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was also given a hard time in South Africa by the obscurantist chaps who ran the country in the nineteen forties.

 

BOTH GENTLEMEN, so I am led to believe, went on to "improve things" in their countries and approached something near to sainthood in the eyes of those who grant credit to such entities as saints and angels.

 

SO WHY DO I SEE, when watching the week-long "celebrations" of Mandela's passing, images of young black children barefoot in ghettoes? Why did I see hardly any white faces in the 90,000 stadium which is the jewel in the crown of this "rainbow nation"?

 

AND WHY IS MANDELA'S natural heir, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, now President of the Rainbow, booed each time he appears in public? When even the true hero of the liberation of South Africans, President Frederik Willem de Klerk, was not given any prominence during the ceremonies? As I write, it looks like the nation may slip back into something worse than Mandela may have envisaged or even lived through. The time of the dictators seems to be returning.