Fighting humbug

No one owns Christmas
"...Christmas has done me good."

It’s been hard this year. Teaching and marking at the college – with a particularly challenging crop of journalism and broadcasting students – have nearly swamped me. Close friends have battled health problems, so I’ve spent what little time I had left trying to help. On top of that, I’ve found myself shouting at the radio in anger because the “the holiday season is here” advertisements began right after Halloween – they didn’t even wait for Remembrance Day to pass. Finding the Christmas spirit, this year, has proved tougher than usual.

I expect all that to change this Sunday, however, when I go to church.

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Politicians are people too

They’ve been polar opposites in front of the public for at least four years, through at least two campaigns. They’ve been bitter ideological enemies. Neither, it would seem, could have anything in common with the other. Neither could ever imagine sending the other a Christmas card. And yet, at the height of a heated political discussion, the other night, there was a pause.

“My opponent makes a good point,” he said. “I can agree with that.”

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