For as long as I can remember, I’ve watched influencers share their ‘What I got for Christmas’ videos. I loved seeing the beautiful things these older women had received, and I dreamed that one day I would be able to receive things like that too. Nowadays, I still watch these videos, but this year, especially,…
Creative Writing
Between Christmas and the New Year
(CW: Mentions of death) the please-come-home-for-christmas radio, the fairytale-of-new-york radio, the ave-maria radio is a time machine is a corpse is just static in the air like damp pine needles and frost. a stag is not a god. a god is not an animal staggering away from a festive-music-radio-corpse. a stag is a deer…
Travel
Celebrating Christmas around the world
Here in the UK, we have roast dinners and mince pies, boxing days and nativity plays. Festive lights illuminate the streets. Gifts are exchanged. Christmas crackers are pulled. Overall, December is a joyous time of the year, but different countries celebrate differently. Let’s look at some unique Christmas traditions from across the globe! The Giant…
Features
Christmas spending
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) Christmas report has revealed an 11.6% drop in consumer spending during the six-week Christmas period in comparison to the same time period last year. Yet despite the national lockdown, Brits are on average expected to spend £1,049.01 per head this Christmas. Whilst condemnation of public spending is an unattractive…
Books
“Knowledge is the gift that will keep on giving”: why books make good gifts
Receiving a book for Christmas verges on one of two paths: euphoria or dread. In our digitised world, one might say books have become redundant as gifts. In the rise of streaming service entertainment, unwinding in the evening has largely become a case of scrolling through social media. ‘But I don’t like reading!’ I hear…
Comment
Is it unfair to lift lockdown for Christmas?
It’s Christmas Eve 2020: A glistening tree decorated with tinsel and fully working lights (miracle!) stands tall and bushy, hiding carefully wrapped gifts underneath and filling the living room with festive joy where countless Christmas movies will soon be watched with family. Arrangements have been made to visit grandparents and other family members you haven’t…
Comment
Uni students need to be able to go home
I am not normally one to praise our current government, which is why it somewhat pains me to admit when Universities Minister Michelle Donelan was making TV appearances to discuss the government’s plan to get students home for Christmas, I was impressed. While I did not agree with everything she said, here was someone who…
TV, Venue
The life of the advert
Disney has released a new advert in support of the Make-A-Wish charity. The advert tells the story of grandmother Lola, her granddaughter and their family traditions. The story begins with the cuddly toy of Mickey Mouse being gifted to Lola as a child in 1940. As the advert continues, we see that Mickey becomes a…
Gaming, Venue
What went on over Christmas:
So, another Christmas is over, and with it came some gaming news to end the decade with a bang (or a whimper). A new Batman game has been teased, which is very exciting news considering Arkham Knight was supposedly the last in the series. This is rumoured to coincide with the release of the PS5…
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