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Yes, it's the Christmas turkey - Christmas Flowers UK

After appearing face down on a doctor’s couch having his prostate checked live on This Morning last month, Paul Ross must have feared his place at the top of this year’s Most Embarrassing TV Moments list was assured. 

But then, with the season of goodwill approaching, the true power of brotherly love showed itself. 

Well, why else would a singing Jonathan Ross have agreed to appear dressed as Father christmas flowers uk  to launch ITV1’s live charity extravaganza Text Santa last Sunday?

While I'm never against helping less fortunate souls, I'm afraid to say that like so many an ITV enterprise this looks like it's being done on half power

There is one possible answer of course. He, like so many other ITV big names, was heavily leaned on to put his weight behind this cheesy bid to compete with the BBC’s legendary charity nights. 

Most casual observers will have already noted ITV’s bandwagon-jumping ambitions this year. 

Programmes like Holding Out For A Hero, Sing If You Can and Born To Shine were obviously water-testers for the big one. 

But while I’m never against helping less fortunate souls, I’m afraid to say that like so many an ITV enterprise this looks like it’s being done on half power.

The truth is, whatever ITV’s real motives, some people will always point to the fact that their very survival relies on making programmes that attract healthy advertising. 

So excuse me for being a tad cynical. But when I see Barry Manilow clumsily plugging next year’s tour or Simon Pegg and Nick Frost imploring us to donate while sitting in front of a massive Tintin poster I can’t help but roll my eyes and sigh, ‘Here we go again.’ 

And that was before David Cameron got in on the act by meeting a heroic foster mum called Doreen. 

Doreen’s reaction said it all. ‘It can’t possibly be the PM. He’s far too busy.’ 

Well Doreen, you’d think he ought to be. But you know Dave. Never too busy for a spot of positive spinning.

On a bad day I might go further and suggest ITV is brazenly storing up good credits for when the next batch of mentally unbalanced auditionees are chewed up and spat out by Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor. But, motive aside, the biggest problem I have with Text Santa is the timing of it. 

Now, I’m sure ITV would love to think that the nation will settle down for a two-hour extravaganza on Christmas Eve. But surely most people will be too busy running round like maniacs to be bothered with watching Ant & Dec tackle the least scary Bushtucker Trial. 

That said, I probably will keep an eye on it. Mainly to find out exactly what Christine Bleakley meant when she said: ‘And Holly Willoughby will be here for a spectacular showing.’ 

What will Holly be showing? Not sure, but they do say christmas flowers uk blogs is a time for hope. 

Footnote. Fair play to Elton John for being the only celebrity not to don a tacky Text Santa hat. He’ll do many things for charity will our Elt. But appear in public with something ridiculous atop his head? Never.

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The Xtra Factor’s hostess Caroline Flack seemed to be enjoying herself on BBC2’s late-night music quiz Never Mind The Buzzcocks on Monday night. But such a pity her One Direction boyfriend Harry Styles wouldn’t have been able to watch it. Way past his bedtime.

Another one bites the dust...

Forget all that ‘end of an era’ nonsense.

I think I’ve worked out why ITV really called Westlife’s farewell TV special For The Last Time. 

Because those are the four words millions of people have most readily associated with the band these past 14 years. 

Westlife have made some memorable recordings (of other people's songs) over the years

As in ‘For the last time, will you please turn that flippin’ boyband rubbish off?!’ 

I’m only kidding, fellas. Westlife have made some memorable recordings (of other people’s songs) over the years. 

Why, I once even murdered Flying Without Wings myself at a works karaoke night as Louis Walsh sat mystified in the front row. 

So next time you want to accuse me of not understanding what torments The X Factor contestants are going through, think again my friends. (For the record, Louis later said I reminded him of ‘a young Smokey Robinson.’) 

Truth is, as ITV music specials go this was one of the better ones. But a couple of things about it still troubled me. 

Why, when it had the same target audience, did ITV put it up against the Strictly final?

And why did the boys claim, ‘If it wasn’t for Louis Walsh we wouldn’t be here today?’ 

I mean, surely Simon Cowell must also take at least part of the blame.

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Let he who is without sin... 

More on the Frozen Planet ‘faked-footage’ scandal. 

Turns out that the Emperor penguin’s comedy fall in episode three was all a set-up. 

And the word is David Attenborough even told the penguin he could swing a pair of Wimbledon tickets from his mates at the Beeb if he made it look extra convincing. 

Seriously though? I can’t help feeling it was a lot of fuss over nothing.

But hey, at least it gave James Whale the chance to dismiss the furore while guesting on ITV1’s GMTV replacement, Daybreak, of all places: ‘Well, it’s not like some phone competition where they’re fiddling the winners, is it?’

Now that’s what I call a killer, Whale.

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The end of an era at Countdown last Friday as Jeff Stelling made his farewell appearance. He has been a revelation and he will be missed. But I can’t wait to see how his replacement, Nick Hewer, fares. 

Hewer’s been the best thing about The Apprentice for years. So fair play to C4 for finally giving him the chance to go Sugar free. 

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Over at Tuesday’s Loose Women Janet Street-Porter revealed she once played the part of Joseph in her school Nativity play. Blimey. I would have loved to have seen the teeth on whoever pipped her to the role of the donkey.

Axe in haste, repent at your leisure 

It was only right that BBC2’s brutally – and foolishly – axed Shooting Stars was recognised at the 2011 British Comedy Awards. 

Sadly, elsewhere that shortlist did something which most of the names on it have regularly failed to do this year – it made me laugh. 

It was only right that BBC2's brutally - and foolishly - axed Shooting Stars was recognised at the 2011 British Comedy Awards

Still, I am indebted to the judges for placing David Walliams and Matt Lucas’s dismal Come Fly With Me in the Best Sketch Show category. 

I’ve always wondered what it was meant to be.

Don’t sing for it. Argos it. 

I had to smile when Simon Cowell declared The X Factor judges had done ‘a great job’ this year. 

Because if he can issue a dreaded vote of confidence like that while keeping a straight face Cowell would make a brilliant football club chairman. 

The X Factor's 'global superstar' stand-in judge Alexandra Burke was flogging watches on Argos TV. That's just embarrassing.com, for everyone concerned

Cowell’s baby this year were the folks over at Strictly Come Dancing who oversaw a joy of a series from start to end. 

Still, I guess we can take comfort from the fact that a group finally won Cowell’s karaoke cup. 

Because at least they’ll be able to comfort each other when it all goes a bit Matt Cardle. 

But if someone asked me to sum up The X Factor 2011 I’d simply tell them to check out what the show’s ‘global superstar’ stand-in judge Alexandra Burke was doing last Tuesday night. 

Flogging watches on Argos TV. That’s just embarrassing.com, for everyone concerned.

Now that’s a reality show

I hope this year’s crop of talent-show wannabes watched BBC2’s Monday-night documentary about the finalists of 1986’s New Faces. 

Because I Had The X Factor... 25 Years Ago told some pretty harsh truths. 

Not least the story of wild partying comic Vinny Cadman who ended up down on his luck and sleeping in a bin for a year. 

Yet still climbed out of it looking cleaner than Frankie Cocozza does now.

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BBC2 is about to broadcast a show called I’ve Never Seen Star Wars in which celebrities will attempt to do something they’ve never done before. Rumours that Ricky Gervais will have a go at being humble are as yet unconfirmed.

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You’d be foolish to miss the Christmas edition of ITV2’s Peter Andre: My Life, which sees our hero preparing to play a gig in Norfolk.

Peter Andre taking his latest musical offerings to the land of the condemned turkeys. Kind of apt really.

You'd be foolish to miss the Christmas edition of ITV2's Peter Andre: My Life, which sees our hero preparing to play a gig in Norfolk

On paper Frank Skinner’s BBC2 social-discussion show Class Dismissed looked pretty thin. But the three comics they chose to illustrate Britain’s classes, Miles Jupp, Micky Flanagan and Roisin Conaty, did a great job. 

Best line was Micky moaning that ‘only posh people understand modern art.’ 

No, Micky. Only posh people are stupid enough to pay for it.

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Kerry Katona has signed up for a new Channel 5 series called Celebrity Wedding Planner, in which couples allow a celebrity to plan their entire Big Day. 

Apparently Kerry is very excited by the project and if it’s a success would be really keen to lend her valuable expertise to a possible follow-up series. Celebrity Divorce Planner.

Minor British Institutions: Christmas lights - Christmas Flowers UK

What could be more innocent than celebrating our winter festival with light to defy the darkness and warm the soul? Not in Britain, however, where no opportunity, however sweet, simple and unpromising, is missed to demonstrate distinctions and supposed superiorities, ie, nudge and smirk.

Thus you will of course be aware that christmas flowers uk lights should only be white, despite a regrettable recent tendency to blue.

Lights should not flash in sequence. Only restrained outside lighting is allowed, and never on the house itself. That latter is the preserve of happy unhumbugs who really like christmas flowers uk blogs : Mr Paul Toole, for example, who, according to a newspaper report, has 50,000 lights on and around his home in Wells, Somerset ("unbelievably tacky", commented a reader from Oxford).

Elsewhere, the usual rows about the expense and absence of public lights are flickering nicely all round the country. We say: lighten up everybody.

Desperate retailers stage festive fight to boost sales - Christmas Flowers uk

A raft of panic-stricken retailers have launched their winter sales in a desperate attempt to kick-start spending ahead of christmas flowers uk .

Fashion chain French Connection, which issued a profit warning earlier this month, has brought forward its sale by a week over fears it could be left with mountains of stock as shoppers wait until the last minute to make festive purchases.

American chain Gap launched a 60 per cent-off sale, and home improvement chain B&Q, owned by Kingfisher, starts its January sale today which will run until March – the firm’s longest-ever sale.

Winter woes: The ONS says High Street sales dropped by 0.4 per cent last month

The flood of early discounting is not a healthy sign, as Britain’s battered retailers fight fierce battles using promotions and price cuts to lure the festive pound.

Shoppers are reining in spending on all but the most essential of items, and many know that if they hold out long enough then retailers will slash their prices.

More...

Moss Bros looking sharp again as sales increase by 13pc

Lloyds chief Horta-Osorio splashes out on comeback

Publisher DC Thomson racks up earnings

There was speculation that Sir Philip Green would also be launching sales today at his Dorothy Perkins, Burton, and Wallis chains, but sources close to his Arcadia firm denied this.

It was, however, unclear whether a such a move was imminent in coming days.

The latest official statistics paint a gloomy picture.

Sales volumes for November fell 0.4 per cent from the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics, with poor sales of computers, watches, jewellery and carpets.

Stripping out fuel, the figures were even worse, down 0.7 per cent as discounts and promotions failed to entice shoppers, casting more doubt over high street prospects this christmas flowers uk blogs .

The drop in sales was slightly bigger than the City had expected and brought to an end two months of growth.

Sofa giant DFS also disappointed, blaming continuing weak demand for a 14 per cent dip in sales to £128.2million in the 13 weeks to October 29.

The private equity-owned firm, which did not give underlying sales or pre-tax profit figures, said underlying profit fell 43 per cent to £15.2million, partly as a result of opening new stores.

There was one glimmer of light. Sports Direct posted flat half-year pre-tax profit of £100million on sales of £888million, keeping it on track for annual profits of £215million.

This profit target would trigger a £12million share windfall for Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, who controls the firm. The firm (down 9.5p to 190p), said retail revenues increased 8.2 per cent to £697.1million.

Controls To Prevent Potential Plant Disease In Northern Ireland Are Tightened - Christmas Flowers Uk

Controls to prevent potential plant disease have been tightened in Northern Ireland.

It follows more than a year of having to cope with a series of outbreaks of tree disease.

Tens of thousands of Japanese larch trees had to be felled after falling victim to the killer disease, P ramorum.

Then there was a series of outbreaks of a similar disease that attacks the roots of the Lawson cypress.

The two diseases spread in different ways and can be hard to prevent if caught at a late stage.

It is thought that the P ramorum may have been brought into Northern Ireland on shrubs, almost certainly rhododendron.

This disease can have over 100 hosts but not all of them will show the disease or even react to it. Luckily, the rhododendron does.

Prevention

The Department of Agriculture, who police plant health in Northern Ireland, are on high alert for infected plants.

From checking baggage brought in by international travellers to inspecting plant 'passports' on commercially imported plants, the inspectors are trying to avoid more outbreaks of diseases previously unknown on the island of Ireland.

I followed Stephen Hamilton, a Department of Agriculture plant inspector around a large garden centre in Belfast.

He headed for a trolley load of rhododendrons fresh in from Holland.

"The first thing I look for is the plant passport so I'd be checking that it carries the correct paperwork," explained Stephen.

"The passport provides us with a means of traceability. Then I'd do a general health check on the plants themselves.

"If I did notice anything peculiar, I'd have to issue a detention notice. A sample would then be sent off to the lab in Belfast."

If the sample proves positive for a disease then the plant will be destroyed.

The department also has the power to set up an exclusion zone in the premises if it is thought the disease may have spread, perhaps by spores.

Increasing numbers

This time the plants got the 'all clear'.

Most plants coming into Northern Ireland come through other European states.

They would already have been checked at another border before entering Europe. But that isn't always a guarantee that all is well.

Recently over 40,000 poinsettias had to be destroyed in England when they were discovered to be infected.

Which makes nervous reading for the Greenmount College of Agriculture and Horticulture.

They buy in poinsettia every year as a training project for students.

The encarsia wasp is harmless to humans and eventually dies off in the cold

As soon as they arrive, the plants go into an intense bio-security, as Teresa Maguire of Greenmount explained.

"This plant would have the risk of tobacco white fly," she said.

"Because of that we would put it through a quarantine period of three weeks. It's monitored on a daily basis."

Handling a tricky plant like this provides real-life bio-security experience for the students.

They learn how to handle and monitor the plant. This even included the introduction of a little wasp to the plants.

"Once the plants come out of quarantine, we introduce biological controls," she said.

"One of the controls is the encarsia wasp. It's a tiny wasp and it heads off to find a food supply, specifically the tobacco white fly if it's there."

The wasp is harmless to humans and eventually dies off in the cold, making it a safe predator to introduce.

The poinsettia are then sold by the students as part of a commercial project.

The funds they raise enable them to travel on work experience projects.

Vigilance

Poinsettias are very popular at christmas flowers uk and are usually all sold before the even leave the greenhouses.

Even more reason to look after them very carefully.

The extra vigilance by the Department of Agriculture could be paying off already.

Aerial surveys and extra 'tree' patrols have spotted the series of Lawson cypress infections (Phytophthora lateralis).

Per hectare of trees, Northern Ireland has more infected Lawsons than some other parts of the UK.

Or perhaps it is the only part of the christmas flowers uk blogs that has found all the infected trees?

The key weapon in keeping new infections out is public awareness.

Many travellers still bring back cuttings from abroad or a nice potted plant from another part of the UK.

In doing so, they could be helping introduce the next outbreak of plant disease.

DiscountVouchers.co.uk Delivers New Discount Deals for Christmas Gift Bargains - Christmas Flowers UK

Leading online voucher codes website DiscountVouchers.co.uk is helping people to get christmas flowers uk  gifts on a budget thanks to new codes and vouchers for top stores. The website, which is home to deals redeemable at over 800 famous name stores, this week introduces new offers for saving money at Amazon, Jessops and Argos.

The DiscountVouchers.co.uk website is currently home to a whole new raft of bargain Argos voucher codes offering money off top quality toys and bikes. Shoppers can right now enjoy deals for getting up to half price toys and save up to half price on all adults and kids bikes.

Other value for money deals for saving on books are on show on the DiscountVouchers.co.uk site right now. Shoppers can currently log on to the site and browse new Amazon vouchers to get hold of Christmas gifts on a budget like massive savings - up to 70% off books and also up to 75% off with Amazon's Amazing 12 Days of Christmas SALE - Savings on Over 100,000 Gifts.

To help people spoil photography fans this Christmas the DiscountVouchers.co.uk site is offering a choice of new Jessops voucher code. The latest digital camera kit and accessories can be had on a budget thanks to deals like 15% off everything at Jessops and 3 for 2 on all photo books.

Doug Scott, managing director of DiscountVouchers.co.uk, commented, “Our deals that we update and list on our site are there to help people save money on all the most famous brands around at all times. Thanks to us updating the site all the time we can offer these new christmas flowers uk blogs deals for top stores like Amazon, Jessops and Argos.”

DiscountVouchers.co.uk offers consumers money saving deals at major high street brands and specialist retailers, including stores like Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Travelodge, First Choice, lastminute.com and Boden.

For more information visit www.discountvouchers.co.uk

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Irish history and literary gems up for auction - Christmas Flowers UK

Well, depending on how far your budget stretches.

christmas flowers uk

For those of you with deep pockets, or a spare 50,000 euros (£42,000) lying about, there is an original copy of the 1916 Proclamation up for grabs.

During Easter week in 1916 the copy was posted in North King Street, just beside the Four Courts in Dublin.

Removed by a volunteer called Murty Tubridy, it is thought to be one of only 40 or 50 which have survived to the present day.

There are also hundreds of books and manuscripts on sale during the two-day auction at Mealys.

Fans of William Butler Yeats could snap up first editions of some of his work from 180 euros (£154).

However, rare first editions of his second book 'The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems' and third book 'John Sherman and Dhoya' could go for as much as 1,000 euros (£855) or possibly more.

A first English edition of Ulysses, by James Joyce, has a heftier lower guide price of 2,000 euros (£1,700).

'Romantic figure'

If the copy of the 1916 Proclamation was a touch too expensive, those interested in that period of Irish history could be tempted by a letter, believed to have been written in 1923, from Lady Hazel Lavery to General Beaslai, lavishing praise on Michael Collins.

The second wife of painter Sir John Lavery, it is said she became a close friend of Collins during the Treaty negotiations in London in 1921.

Lady Lavery became friendly with Michael Collins (centre, seated) while he was negotiating the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921

Apparently distraught after his death in 1922, Lady Lavery contacted General Beaslei who was writing a biography of Collins.

In the letter she spoke of his "gay courage and brilliancy as a romantic figure", referring to a man with a "a wonderful beauty of character and qualities of statesmanship that only a few had begun to recognise".

Rumours of an affair between Lady Lavery and Michael Collins have never been substantiated.

The letter is estimated to reach between 1,250 and 1,750 euros (£1,000 to £1,500).

As the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic approaches more and more memorabilia attached to the ocean liner, and the company that built her, is making its way to auction houses.

Harland and Wolff's original Minute Book, beginning as the Queen's Island Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in 1886, including manuscript annual reports with details of engineering developments and ships built has been unearthed.

As has the company's original Register of Shareholders 1908 - 1926. The guide price to the two volumes, to be sold together, is 7,000 to 9,000 euros (£6,000 to £7,700).

Perhaps the most poignant of the Titanic lots is a photograph of Margaret Norton Rice, from Athlone, and her five children, all of whom died when the liner sank in April, 1912.

Emigrating to America to live in Washington, she boarded at Queenstown with her five sons. It is believed this photograph was taken in Cork before they embarked.

Passengers in third class, the family had little chance of reaching the life boats on the upper decks.

Margaret's body was recovered afterwards by a cable-laying ship and identified through a box of pills purchased at an Athlone pharmacy. Her children were not identified among the recovered bodies.

The picture has an estimated value of 1,000 (£855).

christmas flowers uk blogs

The auction takes place at the D4 Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin on 13 and 14 December.

Royal Christmas cards to be auctioned - Christmas Flowers uk

christmas flowers uk cards sent by British royals are to be auctioned next week.

A collection of 17 festive notes sent by Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip to a member of Buckingham Palace staff from 1981 to 1998 will go under the hammer at Duke's auctioneers in Dorchester, Dorset, south England on December 13 and are expected to fetch at least £600.

Auctioneer Rupert Perry-Warnes told the Daily Mail newspaper: "It's a fascinating collection and includes quite intimate pictures of the royal family.

"You can see how they progress through the years, and how their lives change.

They are all hand-signed and should be of great interest to anyone who likes the Royal Family.

"The cards were collected by a lady who used to work at Buckingham Palace and I understand they were all given to her as a member of staff.

"I believe she has kept them safely at home all these years, and has now chosen to sell part of the collection.

"They are all from either Charles and Diana or the Queen and Prince Phillip, and there is one from the Queen Mother.

"Most people don't get to see these images and they give a really interesting insight into the lives of the Royal Family as they grow older.

"They are all hand-signed and should be of great interest to anyone who likes the Royal Family."

The images include Charles and Diana as newlyweds and later posing with their young sons Princes William and Harry - including one of the boys perched on a donkey - while the 1990 card from the queen and Philip featured them posing with one of their beloved corgis.

A 1987 card has the monarch and her husband joined by William and Harry and their daughter Princess Anne's children Zara and Peter Phillips christmas flowers uk blogs .

Cross-curricular resources: Winter solstice - Christmas Flowers UK

Modern Britain has a great deal to learn from the centuries-old traditions of the winter solstice, says Professor Ronald Hutton

Winter solstice, 22 December

In parts of the world where the seasons change dramatically between summer and winter, the solstices (the longest and shortest days of the year) have been celebrated for centuries. And the most intense of these festivities has always been midwinter. There are both symbolic and practical reasons for this. The lengthening of the light after the greatest darkness represents a time of rebirth and renewal. And, on a more practical level, there was traditionally less work to be done, whether it was farming the land, trading with neighbours or fighting some foreign war.

Certainly, Europeans have always marked the winter solstice, and their ancient names for it - Saturnalia (Roman), Modranicht (Anglo-Saxon) and Yule (Scandinavian) - are known wherever pre-Christian cultures were recorded.

For Christians, it is best known as the Feast of the Nativity or christmas flowers uk , which has been held at midwinter ever since the fourth century and is the most intensively celebrated festival of the year, with more rites and customs than any other. All this makes it of great importance to a historian. But what relevance does an understanding of the winter solstice have for students in more general education?

The answer is firmly bound up with the phenomenon of globalisation. First, it acknowledges the current supremacy of Western - above all American - culture in the world, which has made the christmas flowers uk blogs holiday the most commonly recognised and observed around the planet. Second, it is important to recognise that developed nations are increasingly multicultural entities. This is especially true of Britain where, more and more, we seek common needs and qualities to unite a society in which many groups either have never been Christian or have ceased to be so.

Fortunately, our own history furnishes us with four of these commonalities - all rooted in the nature of the season itself.

The first is the need to keep ourselves cheerful at the time when natural light is at its most scarce and there is a general lack of warmth, food, flowers, greenery or easy travel. So it is not surprising that feasting lies at the centre of all traditional accounts of the festival; a great meal at which family, household, court or band could fill their bellies and make merry together. The modern Christmas dinner is our expression of this in brightly lit, snugly heated homes. (The Yule log and large Christmas candles are two further representations.)

If light and warmth were defiantly reasserted, then so too was greenery, as homes and holy places were decorated with whatever survived: for a long time just holly and ivy. Then the Germans took up the custom of the Christmas tree in the 17th century and gave it to the British in the 19th. In between came the mistletoe bough - and the tradition of kissing beneath it - which brightened up the dark nights of 18th-century London.

A second enduring feature is the making of fresh plans and resolutions in preparation for the return of warmth and activity, as the winter solstice represents the traditional New Year for most Europeans.

Many customs were devoted to blessing the home: Scottish Highlanders took burning juniper around it, while in southern Scotland and northern England the first person to call after the arrival of the New Year brought good fortune. In southern Britain, people would sing to each other - and even to their beasts, fields and orchards, known as wassailing - to woo good luck. The greatest act of well-wishing, however, was to give gifts at the New Year, a custom recorded since pagan Roman times and surviving in our modern-day Christmas presents.

The third characteristic of midwinter is charity, based on the humane impulse to assist those who not could afford to make merry (and coupled with the more practical reality that the poor might slit their wealthier neighbours’ throats unless their resentments were tempered). Collecting and giving to the poor was known in variant local English terms as Thomasing, Gooding, Mumping, Hoggling or Hognelling. Able-bodied working men could earn the food and money for their household feasts by performing songs, dances or plays to please the better off - such as the Mummers’ Play, Sword Dances and, of course, carols.

The final trait of the festival was Misrule - recognising that this was a season when mud, darkness and storms threatened even the best-sheltered communities. Misrule reversed the usual order of society: in ancient Rome masters served slaves; in medieval cathedrals Boy Bishops presided; Lords of Misrule lorded it over wealthy Tudor and Stuart households; and schoolboys were allowed to “bar out” their teachers from classrooms. Today, party games, paper hats and pantomimes preserve this atmosphere, but a less hierarchical society has largely discarded the need for Misrule.

The winter solstice has provided us with a cluster of imperatives and associations that create symbols and activities to unite speakers of all the 130 languages now used in Britain. As educationalists we need to understand, and celebrate, the solstice - and share it with our student audience.

Ronald Hutton is professor of history at Bristol University and the author of 14 books, including “The Stations of the Sun: a history of the ritual year in Britain”

What else?

Key stage 1: Explain some of the special times of year for Pagans and how they celebrate with a resource from Besomcat.

Key stage 2: Lead the class or assembly in a discussion about different winter holidays around the world with a resource shared by MerryG.

Key stage 3: Use a multi- faith calendar shared by PhilippaHartley to chart different religious festivals and celebrations throughout the year.

Key stage 4: Discuss the meaning behind celebrations, life and death, evil and suffering from a humanist perspective with a resource from Humanism for Schools.

Find all links and resources at www.tes.co.uk/resources013.

Original headline: Rejoice in the bleak midwinter