Westminster Diary (Rugby) - 15th December 2005

Thursday, 15th December 2005

I have a confession to make. I hate Christmas shopping. I enjoy giving and receiving Christmas presents, but the process of obtaining them fills me with dread. It may be my imagination, but the major shopping centres seem more crowded every year and the browsing and buying is therefore progressively less pleasant.

Our ever more commercialised Christmas has its dangers too, quite apart from the risk of overlooking the point of the holiday in the first place. The pressure to buy more and more for Christmas is as great on those who cannot afford it as on those who can. For some, a happy Christmas may be followed by a miserable New Year when credit card bills for presents they could ill afford arrive on the doormat.

This Christmas, many of us will take the opportunity to enjoy our gathered families and decorated homes, but I want to remember the people who will be helping those who have neither. All across our area, emergency shelters for the homeless will be open during the holiday period and workers for charities of all kinds will be offering support to the many in our society who do not look forward to Christmas as much as you or I. The majority of those who will be caring for others in this festive season will be volunteers and they will be away from their own families when they do it. I have no doubt that their families will miss them but I have no doubt either that their families will be as proud of them as the rest of us should be.

The emergency services will be working through Christmas too of course and for many police officers, fire fighters and health professionals Christmas will not be a holiday. I wish all of them a peaceful time and to everyone in Rugby I send my best wishes for a very happy Christmas. Oh, and good luck with that shopping.

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Updated on Thursday, 15th December 2005