WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CHRISTMAS ?

I read that the Pope, Benedict XVI, has made a number of comemnts regarding the commercialisation of Christmas and has urged his followers to think more of the original meaning of the festival than of the modern-day interpretation.

Leaving aside the fact that the current date of Christmas is actually that of the old Roman festival of the Winter Solstice and has nothing to do with the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, I have to say that I agree with the Pope. If I was a Roman Catholic this would, perhaps, be unsurprising, but I'm actually an atheist. However, I'm also fed up to the back teeth with the way in which Christmas has become nothing more than an opportunity for commercial exploitation, increasingly ridiculous extravagance and gluttony. The vast majority of people in Britain seem to give no thought whatsoever to the religious aspects of Christmas, but they do decorate their homes, inside and out, in gaudy styles, spend incredible amounts of money on entertainment and presents, especially for their children, and eat and drink to gross excess.

I am no killjoy and no Scrooge. I have no objection to a bit of partying and enjoyment, but the way in which Christmas has been subverted in recent years is horrendous. Parents spend money they don't have on presents that their children demand; no longer are children happy to accept whatever can really be afforded, but they must have the assorted trappings of modern pre-adult life. Christmas begins in our shops at an earlier date almost every year; towns are decorated in early November and Christmas stock appears in the shops no later and often earlier. In the days immediately before the Christmas holiday, our towns and cities are almost impossible to move in freely, as insane hordes rush around buying last minute gifts and enough food to feed the 5,000 100 times over. If anyone can give me a sensible answer to all this nonsense, I'm willing to listen.

Christmas has become, in the developed countries, a time of straightforward extravagance on an idiotic scale. It is nothing more than an opportunity for retailers, and others with something to sell, to foist enormous amounts of tat on a gullible and pliant public, who are equally wrapped up in their own self-indulgence.

The Pope is right, in essence, although I have no sympathy with his religious viewpoint. Whether or not his call to the masses will be heard is another matter.

WELL DONE THE YANKS - IRAQ IN TURMOIL AGAIN.

Now that the US has finally withdrawn its forces from Iraq, we are supposed to believe that the war there has ended successfully, that dictatorship has ended as has the so-called insurgency, and all is sweetness and light.

What a load of old tosh. As was always going to be the case, all that has happened is that the western powers who moved in have now decided that they've spent enough and there is no more real benefit to be gained, for themselves, by staying there. The final exit of the American forces has simply opened the door for more violence and, ultimately, a new dictatorship. Today it's been a spate of bombings with many killed and injured; tomorrow it could well be all-out civil war.

The interevention in Iraq was wrong, as has been the intervention in Afghanistan. Neither will result in any long-term improvements for the peoples of these benighted countries. Most worrying, however, is wondering where the US, Britain and a few others, will now be looking for the training of their forces; Syria must be the favourite, but will prove yet another disaster. Not that our politicians will worry about that. 

EUROZONE MESS DEEPENS STILL FURTHER.

Last week, David Cameron vetoed a Eurozone 'rescue package' and was roundly condemned by other major European leaders. Since then, the proposed package seems to have hit the buffers and the French are about to have their own credit rating downgraded. Cameron's action in keeping the UK out of the Euro-mess, has been totally vindicated.

In the wake of all of this, the French, our traditional cross-channel adversaries, have set about trying to lay the blame for everything at the door of the UK. Apparently, we are the ones responsible for the impending failure of the rescue plan and it isn't the French credit rating that should be downgraded but ours.

What this contretemps has demonstrated, once and for all, is that the French hate the British; they always have done and always will do. Nothing would please them more than to see the UK economy, and the UK itself, collapse. Sadly for them, it looks as though they are destined to be the ones on the receiving end yet again and, this time, the British will not be riding to their rescue. This time, they have to rely on another of their old enemies, Germany. Currently, it's reported that Mrs Merkel is anxiously trying to organise another summit meeting soon after Christmas, at which the UK will be present, though not allowed to vote on rescue proposals for the Euro. What such a meeting will achieve is anyone's guess, though it's unlikely to achieve much of real substance.

The real issue is what Germany will eventually do when they realise there is no simple fix; when they accept that the problem is at least as much political as economic. Will they allow their own economy, and Government, to be dragged down by the crisis afflicting the Eurozone, or will they eventually realise that they have to protect themselves from it ? I would bet that, in the final analysis, they will take the latter course and find a solution that saves them from catastrophe. What shape this action will take is another question but it seems there are really only two options; either Germany withdraws from the Euro, possibly along with France and a few of the economically stronger nations, or the same group remains in the Eurozone and the rest withdraw. Either way, Germany will be a winner and the rest will, at best, tread water.

Sarkozy is clearly one of the walking dead; Merkel knows that her position is weakening by the day. No other leader in Europe, other than our own dear 'Dave' has a status to compare with these two and, indeed, how many Presidents or Prime Ministers could anyone in the street actually name ? It occurs to me that, in the end, it may be that the saviour of Europe will be as before; the UK will ride to the rescue but on its own terms, not theirs. Cameron may end up in a much more powerful position than anyone could possibly have imagined just a few days ago.