Tuesday - November 04, 2008

It’s Christmas as usual and it would appear the press have it wrong? (Thanks, Fido)

Yesterday, yours truly caught an article in The Telegraph that I thought was total insanity.  I think on reflection, that I should perhaps have emailed or even called the city council to see if the story about a ban on Christmas was some silly mistake.  In my (very weak) defense may I say that even the Telegraph didn’t do that and they are getting paid.  But no matter. I SHOULD HAVE!  And it’s thanks to Fidothedog who I now nominate as an official watchdog in case I screw up again, that the error was found.  So H/T Fido and thanks for this link to the correct story.

An interesting and telling comment by our Dr. Jeff belongs here as well. It’s sadly the way of our present world.

“The scariest part is that we have reached the state of affairs where we’ve come to expect this sort of insanity from government institutions.  It is easy to believe that the Oxford City Council or the Oxford Inspires could have come up with such an insane idea.  It’s equally possible to believe that they immediately backed up in response to the ensuing firestorm.  Who knows?  It was believable regardless.” Dr. Jeff

Latest News

Statement on Christmas Celebrations 2008

News Christmas Lights

After recent articles in the local and national press about Christmas Celebrations in Oxford, we have issued the following statement.

Councillor Bob Price, Leader Oxford City Council says: ”Oxford City Council has not ‘banned Christmas’ and has not banned the use of the word ‘Christmas’. The Council has not even considered doing either of these.

“Oxford City Council will celebrate Christmas 2008 in the same way as it has celebrated all previous Christmases: we will have Christmas trees in the Town Hall and in Broad Street, the Lord Mayor will host a Christmas reception for community workers and will hold the annual Christmas Carols event, and we will be sending out Christmas cards.

“Oxford Inspires, who is jointly funded by Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University, the City and County Councils and the Arts Council to sponsor cultural and arts events across the county, designed the WinterLight event for 2008. This builds on the very successful event of December 2007, with the same name, which involved the late night opening of many museums and galleries, with musical events, food and drink, and activities for children.

“For Christmas 2008, Oxford Inspires agreed with the City Council to time the WinterLight event for November and to have it on the same evening as the switch on of the city centre Christmas Lights and the re-opening of Bonn Square.

“Oxford Inspires WinterLight event in Oxford builds on similar events in many cities across the world where the arrival of darker evenings and colder weather creates the opportunity for some magical and exciting events in public buildings and public squares. It is a cultural event without any specific reference to the religious festivals that also occur in this period.”

A spokesman for Oxford Inspires says: “WinterLight Oxford is part of a wider countywide programme which incorporates Christmas Lights switch on events in towns from Abingdon to Woodstock, Christmas Carol concerts, pantomimes and other seasonal events.

“Other Oxfordshire towns have events which combine their Christmas Lights switch on with other entertainment - such as Woodstock’s “Night of a Thousand Candles” on 29th November or Burford’s Advent Fair on 30th November.”

http://tinyurl.com/6rqbja

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2008 at 07:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • UK •  
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