Seven swans not swimming: how bird flu came to Christmas
A family of London swans offer both warning and hope in the face of an overlooked crisis.
ByChristmas
Then Later, His Ghost: a Christmas story by Sarah Hall – Audio Long Reads
Christmas coming, a man and a woman in a lonely long barn expecting a child, a post-apocalyptic landscape, a journey…
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Motherland festive special: A Christmas Carol for the Mumsnet generation
This special edition of Sharon Horgan’s BBC One comedy is perfect in every way, save for the fact that it…
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What Rishi Sunak doesn’t get about strikes
A pledge to ban strikes and thus make pay bargaining harder is a pledge to ensure recruitment and conditions keep…
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Two years on, our trade deal with the EU is a rotten turkey
A poll finds more than three quarters of companies believe the Brexit deal has been unhelpful to their business.
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Why Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is still so relevant
Really, the only things separating Bob Cratchit from the average 2022 Londoner are electricity and the fact he could afford…
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After two years of false starts, I’m working out how to make Christmas my own
Our Chanukah traditions are being passed on to the next generation. But I’m happy to add eggnog, a tree and…
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This is how you don’t celebrate Christmas
As a child, Christmases meant exclusion. Today, I am making my own Yuletide traditions.
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Why brass music has such a special relationship with Christmas
There is something particularly cheering about horns playing festive favourites as the temperature drops.
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Why Love Actually has ruined politics, with Jonn Elledge
A festive round-up of politics in 2022
Am I a bad Jew? A Chanukah reflection
I was raised in a Jewish household, but broke all my grandmother’s rules.
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The highs and lows of Christmas TV 2022
From the Motherland special to the return of Happy Valley.
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The woke brigade isn’t cancelling Christmas
Complaints about Christmas inclusivity are designed to stoke grievance and division.
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Christmas, for me, has never been quite what I imagine it should be – so Bali beckons
Perhaps I will fall in love with a Brazilian man, Eat, Pray, Love-style.
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Ian Hislop’s Diary: Getting the choir back together, remembering John Sessions, and what politicians forget about A Christmas Carol
If Jeremy Hunt is “playing Scrooge”, he should give a free goose to every household.
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We held a Christmas ceasefire in 1914. Surely we can manage a Brexit truce now?
Let Remainers drop the gloating while Brexiteers take their fingers out their ears.
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Hoorah for the John Lewis Christmas ad. At last, the spotlight is on kids in care
Children in care are in the biggest ad slot of the year and hopefully, eventually in the thoughts of the…
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The right’s war on Christmas virtues
The Christian right reveres a harsh individualism that runs directly contrary to the true meaning of Christmas.
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Why Santa has more in common with Batman than the Easter Bunny
Hollywood and Coca-Cola might have created a single image of Santa Claus, but his character is still evolving to reflect…
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Ian Hislop’s Diary: Carolling with the Monkees, sherry with the vicar, and the true meaning of Christmas
’Tis the season for gift giving and – just like vaccinations – I am recommending everyone gets three Private Eye…
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