Three Christmas cheers for the Guardian and Observer’s appeal in aid of refugee children, for combining both the need for charity and change – and showing society that the two are not mutually exclusive.
The seasonal concern for others – from restaurants opening for the homeless to toy and gift donations – is always uplifting. But before Boxing Day morning has even begun, consumers will be splurging cash at the sales and government policy continuing to create the kind of desperate need that a few pounds in the charity tin at Christmas can never solve.
As a GP in Oldham, I will be spending the post-Christmas Day period tending the vulnerable who are made up of more than just the elderly and frail who have been failed by our fragile social care system. They will no doubt also include those experiencing stress-related illnesses, including desperate anxiousness caused by ongoing joblessness and the spectre of debt. While some individuals will have consumed about six times their recommended daily calorie intake on Christmas Day, my patients may also include malnourished children.
Homelessness has become this year’s cause célèbre – and given that three-quarters of them have physical health problems and 80% have mental health issues, they will no doubt be seeking medical attention too. Because of the government’s cuts to homeless shelters, many will be back on the streets in the cold.
Random acts of kindness must be replaced by a concerted sense of compassion 365 days a year. And charitable drives need to be accompanied by awareness-raising exercises that do not shy away from challenging government to examine disastrous policies such as the bedroom tax, which are beginning to bite and could leave thousands more people homeless.
One of the most famous charitable campaigns in Britain’s history is “A Dog is for Life and not just for Christmas” which warned that animals bought as pets are often discarded and maltreated following the festivities. If we want to make sure our most vulnerable people are not forgotten, we must bring some longevity to our charity and ensure it is accompanied by the kind of political action that can lead to sustainable change.
Dr Zahid Chauhan
Medlock Medical Practice, Manchester
• Re the John Mullan article on representation of Christmas in literature (Review, 17 December), my favourite is the Christmas dinner scene in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Among many reasons is that until I first read it, I thought that only in my family was politics so near the surface that it would turn the most sacred occasion into mayhem at the slightest opportunity. And it had nothing to do with drink in our case, a tiny glass of port being all that was likely to be on offer. It was pure passion, and this Joyce conveys as no one else could. The Christmas dinner in The Dead has a similar quality of emotion, where tears and laughter have the same intensity.
Ann Dowling
Manchester
• I read in last Saturday’s Guide (17 December) the review of what was described as “The festive 40” programmes for the Christmas and New Year season. It was a strange article. None of the list of 40 had any connection to Christmas at all and those programmes that did got no mention whatsoever – programmes such as Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve (BBC1), Christmas carols with Aled Jones (ITV1), Carols from King’s (BBC2), Christmas Day service (BBC1), On Christmas Night (BBC1) and Gospel Christmas (BBC2). It might pay the Guardian to offer some training on what Christmas is all about to the anonymous reviewer?
Prebendary Neil Richardson
Braintree, Essex
• Stuart Heritage asserts: “Elf on the Shelf isn’t a real Christmas tradition … It began 12 years ago as a self-published picture book in the US” (G2, 19 December). Well we had an “elf on the shelf” (or mantelpiece) back in the 1960s – he’s still brought out at Christmas but he’s now sadly missing his little Noel book.
When we took our young son to my mother’s at Christmas in about 1990, he was told the story about the Christmas elf on the mantelpiece – then later on, when he thought no one was watching, he went up to the fireplace and said to the elf: “I’m not afraid of YOU!”
So it probably is a tradition from somewhere – my grandmother was German – but has been co-opted commercially!
Mike Whittaker
Stapleton, Shropshire
• A two-page article (Rapid polar warming ‘behind a dramatic rise in extreme weather’, 20 December) and a photospread of Christmas lights decorating the outside of houses across the UK (Eyewitness, 20 December). Ah, the irony!
David Bishop
Wybunbury, Cheshire
• As a long-term subscriber to the Guardian I received a Christmas card – thank you. If I cancelled my subscription and started anew I would receive a £50 M&S voucher.
Kate Wheller
Wyke Regis, Dorset
• Is nothing sacred any more? King William’s College Quiz on 22 December in the Guardian Kindle edition, when everyone knows it belongs in the Christmas Eve edition of the paper.
Pam Lunn
Kenilworth, Warwickshire
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