David Cameron two years ago:
The idea that anyone ever could be offended by a Christmas card that says “Merry Christmas and happy new year” and we’ve got to send one saying “Season’s greetings”; I think it’s just insulting tosh. ‘In fact, people – Muslims and Jews – are offended because it’s treating them in a silly and politically correct way.
Spool forward a couple of seasons Christmases, and there are more than a few red faces at Tory HQ, as The Times’s Ruth Gledhill notes :
Two years ago, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said banning Nativity plays and replacing ‘Merry Christmas’ signs with ‘Season’s greetings’ risked offending people from other faiths by patronising them. Now the Conservative Party’s own Christmas card has been released – and it substitutes Season’s Greetings for Happy Christmas.
Thus has the ghost of season’s greetings past visited a one-time scourge of political correctness, giving bloggers around the world an early Christmas present and proving once more that there really is a God.
Well quite.
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11 Comments
This won’t stop the Daily Mail and Daily Express running their usual faked stories about local authorities “banning” Christmas.
You do realise that the cards metioned by the Times are those sold to the public at the Conservative parties online shop and not David Cameron’s personal Christmas card?
Jessica,
Are you claiming that there’s a split between David Cameron and his Party? Or are you just spinning madly on behalf of CCO? And do you know what David’s personal card looks like? Perhaps you might like to keep you head down on this one, whilst we note that, in this instance, the Conservatives say one thing for public consumption and do something quite different for profit.
Mark,
I do know what the Cameron’s personal Christmas card looks like, I have recived one from them for the last 3 years.
Your talking about a split on the issue of the wording in Christmas cards?? Grow up.
“You’re talking about a split on the issue of the wording in Christmas cards?? Grow up.”
Are you saying that Christmas cards are not important issue? Then why did Cameron feel the need to comment on it? Seems like a major Tory split to me. :-p
Puts world recession and global warming into perspective.
If you really want to be serious, why not debate why all successful X-factor girls have legs like matchsticks and all the boys have very pretty faces.
A few years ago I sent out a card to all my customers, from me personally, after Christmas, with no religious imagery, and saying Season’s Greetings. Nonetheless I got a rude letter back from someone accusing me of of hijacking Christmas for commercial ends. I don’t bother to send anyone a card any more.
Why not concentrate what is on the front of the card and not what is on the inside. Who cares as long as the image is seasonal and fun. Don’t be so serious. 🙂
Jessica,
Thanks for your answer. As you well know, it’s all about context, and now I know more about you, I can place a more accurate value on your comments. By teasing you in this way, we now know that you are, at least, an acquaintence of the Conservative Party leader, and the nature of your original comment implies fairly strongly that your aim is to defend the Conservative Party from attack for having made a statement in one year to attract support and then acted entirely in contradiction to that stance two years later.
All perfectly legitimate, I suspect. And no, I don’t really care about the issue itself. I care about the principle of saying one thing and doing another for political advantage, whilst pretending that you’re being entirely consistent and criticising your opponents for behaving in the same manner.
And your sensitivity to the issue is quite enlightening too… 🙂
I put seasons greetings or similar on mine because I am not a Christian, not because I think Muslims and Jews will be offended.
Happy solstice, everyone!
There are two separate issues here. One is the idea that we have to expunge all references to what until recently was the major aspect of this celebration, and that those who still view it in that way should feel forced to do it only in private – that is wrong, and can sometimes be done by people who are anti-religion but who find “but it offends Muslims/Jews/etc” a more acceptable line than ‘It offends me because I don’t like religion”.
The other is taking a little care with your Christmas cards. I myself do generally send cards with religious images to those who I know, as I do, celebrate this festival in its religious sense. I would take care, however, to send cards without such images and with the words “seasons greetings” to anyone I know who has an allegiance to another religion. It’s annoying that the card manufacturers often don’t pick this up, so you often find cards with religious imagery and yet the “season’s greetings” words, and cards which look nicely secular and yet have the word “Christmas” in them.
One Trackback
[…] This year, in fairness to the media (and perhaps partly a reflection of the growing power of blogs to embarrass journalists who find their names and errors plastered over the internet for their colleagues and friends to find?*) there have been not very many such stories so far. Probably the highest profile one – over the Christmas cards sold by the Conservative Party – did have the journalistic justification of being about the Conservatives being willing to make money out of selling the sorts of cards that David Cameron had previously mocked. […]