Christmas spending - A time for perspective

DESPITE the fact that our world seems to be collapsing all around us we will spend more than the vast majority of Europeans – the people standing between us and bankruptcy – this Christmas.

Despite cutting our Christmas budget by just over 10%, in Europe only Luxembourg will spend more than Ireland decking the halls with holly.

Christmas has been a festival of excess for many years and in our pomp (borrowed) our celebrations often passed the line between appropriate and excess.

There is nothing sanctimonious about suggesting that there was never a better time to return to European norms on many fronts. If we celebrated Christmas in a more European way it would be far less stressful, vulgar and, more than likely, far happier too.