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Plan your budget – don’t let Christmas ‘fever’ make you reckless. Be careful you don’t go over any overdraft with your bank – the penalties are expensive! Also, really and truly, beware using credit cards if you can’t pay them off quickly Practical details: Make sure you have in a good stock of coal and...

It was: 250 years ago, on 16th Dec 1775 that Jane Austen, novelist (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion) was born. Over 30 million copies of her books have been sold, 7,000 of them in her lifetime. 175 years ago, on 4th Dec 1850 that William Sturgeon, physicist, electrical...

Here you can download ALL of the editorial for this month in one document.

All of us have received unwanted gifts at Christmas. For Joseph the gift of a child, as recorded in Matthew chapter 1, was not something he really wanted. Although he was engaged to Mary, her pregnancy would be grounds for divorce. Not surprisingly, with the associated social disgrace, Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew...

A group of bishops with a close interest in the Holy Land have welcomed the recent Gaza peace deal, praying that it will “bring immediate relief and comfort”. The Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, the Church of England’s lead bishop for the Middle East, together with the Bishops of Chelmsford, Gloucester and Norwich, said that...

We send an estimated 900 million to 1 billion Christmas cards in the UK each year. Royal Mail delivers around 150 million. On average, each person in the UK sends and receives about 17 cards. This year the final Royal Mail Christmas posting dates are as follows: Wednesday, December 17th:  2nd Class and 2nd Class...

It is to St Luke’s wonderful gospel that many Christians turn as the year draws to a close and Christmas approaches, for it is to St Luke that we owe the fullest account of the nativity. Luke alone tells us the story of Mary and the angel’s visit to her, and has thus given the...

It was 250 years ago, on 16th December 1775, that novelist Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion) was born. Over 30 million copies of her books have since been sold – 7000 in her lifetime. She was the second daughter and seventh child of the Revd George...

All of us have received unwanted gifts at Christmas. For Joseph the gift of a child, as recorded in Matthew chapter 1, was not something he really wanted. Although he was engaged to Mary, her pregnancy would be grounds for divorce. Not surprisingly, with the associated social disgrace, Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew...

Almost certainly not.  But the story of how that date came to be chosen as His ‘birthday’ is one that stretches back long before His birth. it seems to have started on the Greek island of Rhodes in 283 BC. That year the solstice fell on 25th December, and it was also the year that...

How about choosing from among the top ten ‘curated list’ of items seen as quintessentially British?  They are: Fine English Tea (No list of British gifts could start anywhere else); quality biscuit; posh marmalade, fine bone china, cashmere scarf or shawl; gin; and traditional British sweets.

As you wait to buy your Christmas presents this month, ever wonder how much the other shoppers in the queue are spending? According to various retail polls, we tend to spend according to the depth of our relationship with the person. And it is estimated that we spend on average: ~ for our friends and...