Jottings
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Festive left-overs
With mince pies and mistletoe swiftly
fading into memory, we can’t let the
festive fun end without relating the
antics of Great Aycliffe town council in
Country Durham. The traditional
Christmas Eve parade in Newton
Aycliffe has been held for years, but in
November, the annual preparations were
thrown into disarray when two women
volunteered to take on the role of Santa.
A sub-committee agreed unanimously to
recommend that one of the women
should be given the task of riding on the
festive float and throwing out sweets to
youngsters of all ages. But Labour
Councillor Arun Chandran objected.
“There is no shortage of male volunteers
to act as Santa Claus,” he said, “so we
should not permit a female volunteer to
perform the role. This has nothing to do
with equality. There is no legality issue
on this.” He added. “It may well reflect
badly on the council if we were to
deliberately introduce a form of political
correctness just because a Labour Party
member turns up at an Events Sub
Committee meeting to demand women’s
rights to be Santa Claus.”
Councillor Chandran finally won the day
when the Council’s leader, Bob Fleming,
said that the “wonder and magic” of
Christmas should not be spoiled for
children, over-ruling colleagues who
thought it was “blatant discrimination”
to exclude women. Others said that as a
“modern-thinking society,” it would be
valid to consider whether Santa could
be, “female, black, rainbow or disabled.”
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Meanwhile, no such climb down at the
Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling
where a Nativity display was banned by
bosses for fear of offending non-
Christian customers. The Centre was
heavily criticised locally for promoting
Christmas for commercial gain but
refusing a request for a Nativity scene.
The excuse offered was that the Centre
did not want to be “subjected to”
individual organisations’ beliefs, an
attitude described by the Catholic Church
in Scotland as, “a sad day for all of us.”
But well done to an enterprising soul at a
branch of Greggs the Bakers who seized
a marketing opportunity and turned
round the shop’s name board above his
branch so that it became a mirror image.
Christmas shoppers flocking to a branch