Christmas

  • A Christmas Ghost Story

    ‘Know whit’s traditional at Christmas?’ he said. ‘Ghost stories. Everybiddy loves a Ghost story’ I swirled the beer at the bottom of my glass and smiled. ‘Load a shite, in’t it?’ ‘Naw, naw. Look at Dickens and A Christmas Carol. Classic ghost story that.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘Name another then.’ ‘Well, they don’t need…

  • Santa and Sexism

    I am proud to publish here a piece my 17 year old daughter, Claire Thomson, wrote in response to an experience of everyday sexism. Last week, I was at a party in a rural community hall. Around fifty alcohol soaked under twenties bounced off walls plastered with posters advertising salsa for the over 60s, French…

  • It’s Christmastime….

    What does Christmas mean to you? As atheists we don’t celebrate the Christian holiday – which was borrowed from the existing Pagan Solstice celebrations when Christianity was introduced to Europe. Even the Pope has recently gone on record saying this. But we do celebrate: we buy each other gifts, eat too much food and avoid…

  • Merry Christmas, Mum

    Even before I left, I knew doing the Christmas shopping with my mum wasn’t a good idea. I was proven right. First, we went to Lidl. “What’s that?” “A jigsaw.” “Oh. That’s nice. What’s that?” “A calligraphy set.” “….” “A fancy pen.”

  • Warning: Grumpy Alert

    [tweetmeme source=”nettiewriter” http://www.URL.com] I detest this time of year. Not in a “bah humbug” kind of way, but this administrative reboot of the calendar makes me reflect on the past twelve months and forces me to take stock of where I am and what I’ve achieved. And 2011 has sucked like a toothless granny eating…