• Creative Corner: Santa’s Brother is Coming to Town

    Honestly, Christmas confuses me. I never quite understood how goodwill and festivity expresses itself in a garb of gluttonous feasting, expensive gifts nobody actually wanted, and sheets and sheets of fancy wrapping paper like the filled wallets of fat cat advertisers. But hey, you guys decided on this tradition...
  • How Fast Does Father Christmas Travel? Solved by Relativity…

    The magic of Father Christmas has long mesmerised both children and adults alike, but just how does that jolly man make it around the world and deliver presents to 700 million children? It’s a feat we’d think to be surely impossible, however Dr Katy Sheen from the University of...
  • December Sales 2018 Expected to be Cheaper than in January

    Analyst reports indicate that Christmas shoppers will experience the sales prices usually seen in January a month earlier this year, so shopping now will get you a better deal than waiting until the New Year. Data from lovethesales.com suggest that there is a 63 per cent increase in clearance...
  • What Makes Christmas Music ‘Christmassy’?

    I’d dread to be a sales assistant at this time of year. Listening to the same jovial twenty songs in a shift is enough to make anyone want to cut their ears off. When I do brave up and take my earplugs out whilst doing the Christmas shopping, I...
  • Best Christmas Songs of the 21st Century

    Modern Christmas music is considered by some (including myself) as perhaps of a lesser quality than the odes from the twentieth century, but they aren’t all bad. Sure, there are a lot of covers of classics, and it is true that lots of covers just haven’t got the magic...
  • Creative Corner: The Brightest Star

    Snowflakes clung to the windowpane like icing frosted upon a gingerbread house. With a start, Eleanor’s unfocused gaze took in the room around her: bench after bench of hard-working elves hand crafting this year’s presents. No time for slowing down. In her hands was another of the ragdolls, her...
  • Dear Agony Aunt: I don’t know how to cure my hangover…

    Dear Auntie Carol… How do you get over a hangover? Dear reader… “I’m not going to tell you that you should’ve drunk water or eaten bread before going to sleep – that’s your mum’s speech. I’m the cool Auntie, remember?” Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you that...