Whether Christmas is
the religious celebration as some wish to see it, or some sort of re-purposed
celebration of the winter solstice as others choose to see it, is a matter of
opinion, albeit often strongly-held. As a question of historical fact, since
no-one really knows exactly when Christ was born, choosing an existing
pre-Christian feast as the time to celebrate that birth was a shrewd piece of
marketing for those seeking to convert the population to the new religion.
In practice, most of
us are happy to adopt a ‘live and let live’ philosophy rather than demand that
others must accept our definition of the nature of the event, whichever
definition we choose. That said, for historical and cultural reasons, even in
an increasingly secular society, most of us are also aware of, and tend to
support, the seasonal concept of ‘peace on earth and goodwill to all men’. It's an
idea which is strongly associated with the Christian take on Christmas (although
some of us might wish that the sentiment wasn’t confined to such a short period
of the year). It’s also generally seen as a time for families to take a break
and be together.
Unless, of course,
we are talking about the Home Secretary. It has been revealed this week that
she has cancelled
all Border Force leave over Christmas, in the expectation that the Supreme
Court judgement due in early December will give the green light to start flying
people to Rwanda. If that is indeed the outcome, the staff will be needed to
implement the decision before and during the Christmas break. It’s a strange
sort of ‘goodwill to all men’ which doesn’t even apply to her staff, let alone
those who they will be expected to strap
forcibly into aircraft seats if her dream
comes to pass.
Many of their
previous statements have led me to wonder whether members of the current
government really understand the ‘British’ values which they claim to espouse,
because they have a curious way of showing it. In this case, I can’t help but
wonder whether Braverman has read the traditional story of Christmas through
her own distorted lens and somehow concluded that Herod was actually the hero.
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