But I think it has to be, as I'm after three of the quotes from the story. This year it's the time of Revd Margaret McPhee - Nanny's heartless relative, apparently - to upset all the kids by denying the existence of Fr Christmas.
Samantha Tisshaw described how her confused seven-year-old son asked her: ‘Mum, why did Reverend Margaret lie to us ?’I look forward to Ms Tisshaw rushing to the press in a couple of years' time, when her confused nine-year-old son says to her "Mum, why did you like to me when the vicar told the truth?"
Meanwhile,
Furious messages posted on the internet include one from Colin and Clare Jefkins, who said: ‘Sorry my child will not attend any more church services again. ‘She would not like it if we said there was no “God”.’Well, I don't know, Mr and Mrs Jefkins. Given she's C of E and recently ordained, there's a 10 per cent chance she might agree with you, and 20% chance she'll say that, in a very real sense, it depends what you mean by God.
But my favourite is probably the Mail's own remark,
Rev Margaret McPhee claimed that Father Christmas was 'make believe'Claimed? Has the Mail gone so far down the relativist, post-modern, wishy-washy, liberal, un-English route as to use the word "claimed" in relationship to Fr Christmas's non-existence? Do they really believe that Santa-ism is a religion of equal worth to the great world religions? Of course Fr Christmas is real. I've locked him in the Doily Shed after we caught him last year. And until he resigns from Forward in Faith and gives me that Raleigh Chopper I asked for in 1977, he's not getting out.
Like you, I was psychologically maimed by losing out on the legendary Chopper. In its stead, I received a second-hand “bicycle with cow handlebars” - in 1970s motoring terms, very much the used Austin Allegro and not the gleaming Ford Capri I desired.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Santa actually did exist, whether the Mail would actually believe in him (or her).
ReplyDeleteOff course, I don't believe in the Daily Mail, so I'm on safe ground when I say that belief in God or Santa is optional, and the benefits from one are life giving, while the other might be giving if someone can afford it.