Today is a day to be enjoyed.
And Salut! hopes its small band of readers – the folk music site Salut! Live gets many, many more and might even entertain you – have a great Christmas Day.
My pal Pete Sixsmith foregoes Sunderland games each Christmas to show there is professional life after a teaching career
There are things we can try to forget for one day.
Forget the attacks ministers and media cheerleaders have made on ordinary people, most of them performing important duties of behalf of everyone, for attempting to defend or improve working conditions and negotiate fairer pay.
Forgetif we can for a day, Putin and his squalid invasion, a Hitleresque adventure he crazily justifies as countering neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
Forget the incompetence, misconduct and dubious relationship with the truth that have characterised a good part of the Tories’ 12 years in power. The Government’s default disclaimer – ´´global headwinds’´, ie the pandemic and war – diverts blame from its own failures and the role of Brexit, which makes every problem others face that much worse for the UK.
Forget Sir Keir Starmer’s ploy of pretending the stench of Brexit can somehow be turned by his magic wand into the sweetest of scents.
Actually, don’t forget and certainly don’t forgive any of that.
But do try to make the most of the festive season, notably today and the New Year revelries. And remember the good things: the flawed wonder that is the NHS and its magnificent staff, people in public and other essential services, volunteers at homeless refuges and food banks, all those giving their time, effort, skills and sometimes their lives to make the world a better place.
Salut! wishes you all a happy Christmas and the best the new year can bring.