Two-thirds of adults worry they cannot afford Christmas dinner

[cromwell]

And you'll find that was in my post.

Not it wasn't ,you were trying to make out the right to buy was post her win you omitted the bribe was vote for me and you'll get a property at a bargain price a la bribery and corruption.

[Nick]

What are you on about you show little knowledge of facts the right to buy was in the manifesto that won the old bat the 79 election.

And you'll find that was in my post.

[cromwell]

What you on about? Maggie won the election the year before the housing act (1980), she was elected in 1979. She wanted to allow the great unwashed to have the pride of owning their own home.
The utilities were sold off, as I've said many times, to negate the unions, you can't hold a government to ransom by striking if the government doesn't own the utilities. Blame the NUM, they were the catalyst for a lot of what MT did.

What are you on about you show little knowledge of facts the right to buy was in the manifesto that won the old bat the 79 election hence it was a bribe.

You can't even answer why we're paying over the odds for failed middle men that produced nothing but abject failure dividends for a few and high prices for us all.

[Nick]

Me I have bought a Christmas turkey. Have given it to mum who is going to cook it on Christmas Day, and I will be popping round there for a few hours to help her eat it.

I have stated that the drumsticks are mine, which is fine by her since she prefers the breast.

I have been invited round bruv's on Christmas Eve for a few drinks, but I might have to give that a miss because my miserable employer is making me work til 8pm even though the store closes at 7

Why give it a miss Steve? Chuck a pair of kecks and a shirt in a bag, get changed and go enjoy a few hours with your brother. Don't look for issues where there are none, look for solutions!!

[Nick]

You mean like when Thatcher bribed her way in to winning an election by selling council houses at massive discounts thereby leaving us where we are with the mess that is social housing.....or rather the lack of it.

Furthermore the utilities were sold off too and look where we are now with water companies and energy where we are paying through the nose for failed middle men and the total lack of govts....anygovts that is to ensure our energy security.

I don't condone the selling off of the gold but you cannot be getting away with the rewriting of history that it's labour bad bad bad  but not the tories.

What you on about? Maggie won the election the year before the housing act (1980), she was elected in 1979, you mean she kept an electoral promise? She wanted to allow the great unwashed to have the pride of owning their own home.
The utilities were sold off, as I've said many times, to negate the unions, you can't hold a government to ransom by striking if the government doesn't own the utilities. Blame the NUM, they were the catalyst for a lot of what MT did.

[papasmurf]

Quite

The reason for the Twelve Days of Christmas is that, if left to itself, the population would have spent the Winter having mega scoffs and pissups, so the Church put a limit on the festivities to stop folk having too much fun.

Before the Christians stole it, it was the Pagan festival of Geol, (literally the mouth of a carnivore,) where the animals that could not be fed through the winter were slaughtered and eaten along with much imbibing of alcohol and debauchery with many babies born the following August.

[Borchester]

Well before you nicked it for your miserable religious burblings tbe winter solstice was the time for a bloody good piss up to celebrate the fact the sun had finished hiding for more than half a day and the days were warming up.

Quite

The reason for the Twelve Days of Christmas is that, if left to itself, the population would have spent the Winter having mega scoffs and pissups, so the Church put a limit on the festivities to stop folk having too much fun.

[srb7677]

As far as I can see, Pappy can't afford Christmas and Toots wants to abolish it.

So what is everyone else up to?

Me I have bought a Christmas turkey. Have given it to mum who is going to cook it on Christmas Day, and I will be popping round there for a few hours to help her eat it.

I have stated that the drumsticks are mine, which is fine by her since she prefers the breast.

I have been invited round bruv's on Christmas Eve for a few drinks, but I might have to give that a miss because my miserable employer is making me work til 8pm even though the store closes at 7

[cromwell]

No, it is your fault.

If you refuse to live within your means then some nice politician will come along, blame the Tories or socialists or Green Martians and start printing more pound notes or dollars or whatever and tell you that the problem is solved. It is all bollocks, but in moments of stress most folk have the tendency to blame someone else for their problems. Cowardly and counter productive, but there you are

Cowardly?don't make me laugh you've boasted on here how you avoided work whenever possible at hmrc got a property at a knockdown price taking advantage of a bribe and then have the bloody cheek to criticise and mock people.....working people are having to struggle whilst you revel in getting every benefit going.

[patman post]

That's not true at all. We should celebrate Christmas - I would just be happier if it wasn't so commercialised and OTT. There is incredible pressure on people to have too much of everything and we lose the real reason for it. I think the expectations create a sense of failure if they don't have tables laden with food, trees drowned in presents, lights enough for Blackpool illuminations etc etc.

What is the "real reason" for this knees up in December/January?

Personally, I think it was originally Saturnalia, intended to cheer people up during harshest Northern Hemisphere annual  time of cold and hardship.

As such, we all still do what we can — without the more exotic and OTT activities — but we still choose our fun...

[srb7677]

Isn't it time we all stopped pretending that Christmas is all about gluttony and excess? As a family we have decided in recent years that only children have presents and those are of limited value. My two eldest teenage grandchildren have had the same repeated birthday and Christmas present for the last 2 years from me and that has been a monthly donation to WWF towards saving 2 different species. I have asked them several times if they are happy for them to continue in their names and each time the answer has been a resounding yes.
Surely Christmas should be about serving others rather than how much food and drink we can consume without throwing up. Surely it is time to teach that Christmas isn't about how many often useless presents we can accumulate. Can't we all give each other a gift of a wider vision for the world?

The problem is that the pre-Christian pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice held at the same time every year was a festival of feasting and drinking. When the early Christians converted the pagans they knew their task would be easier if they adopted existing traditions under new guises. So the solstice was converted into a festival celebrating the birth of Christ, even though it is thought that his actual birthdate was in the spring. Drinking and feasting was a tradition that never quite died, however gloomy some Christians wanted it to be.

[srb7677]

Nobody NEEDS a Christmas dinner, they just need a dinner.

Bah humbug!

If ever this forum runs its own version of a Christmas Carol I suggest you in the role of Scrooge.

Borchester can be the ghost of Christmas Past with his cheery yesteryears.

Cromwell can be the ghost of Christmas present, pointing out what a mean old sod Nick - aka Scrooge - is.

And Smurf with his ever-cheerful disposition is ideally suited to the role of the ghost of Christmas yet to come.

[papasmurf]

As far as I can see, Pappy can't afford Christmas and Toots wants to abolish it.

So what is everyone else up to?

Borchester stop making lying assumptions about me. Is debate on the actual subject of the thread beyond your mental capabilities?

Christmas happens not to a good time for myself and my wife and too many of our close relatives died over the Christmas period in the past.  My concern is for the millions in Britain who are going to have a crap Christmas because the cost of living crisis.
There is no need at all for you to make everything personal to me, just to abuse and attack me yet again.

[johnofgwent]

Isn't it time we all stopped pretending that Christmas is all about gluttony and excess? As a family we have decided in recent years that only children have presents and those are of limited value. My two eldest teenage grandchildren have had the same repeated birthday and Christmas present for the last 2 years from me and that has been a monthly donation to WWF towards saving 2 different species. I have asked them several times if they are happy for them to continue in their names and each time the answer has been a resounding yes.
Surely Christmas should be about serving others rather than how much food and drink we can consume without throwing up. Surely it is time to teach that Christmas isn't about how many often useless presents we can accumulate. Can't we all give each other a gift of a wider vision for the world?

Well before you nicked it for your miserable religious burblings tbe winter solstice was the time for a bloody good piss up to celebrate the fact the sun had finished hiding for more than half a day and the days were warming up.

[T00ts]

As far as I can see, Pappy can't afford Christmas and Toots wants to abolish it.

So what is everyone else up to?

That's not true at all. We should celebrate Christmas - I would just be happier if it wasn't so commercialised and OTT. There is incredible pressure on people to have too much of everything and we lose the real reason for it. I think the expectations create a sense of failure if they don't have tables laden with food, trees drowned in presents, lights enough for Blackpool illuminations etc etc.