According to a well-known British figure:

... the true meaning of the Christmas story will not be revealed until Easter – or possibly much later.

Now who said that?  Answer at the end of this blog.

I am now preparing to give my brain a little bit of a rest while we ride out Yuletide.  Therefore, I wish all readers:



These fellows were keeping warm in January of this year.  For more meerkats, see also Erdmännchen (Suricata suricatta) im Kölner Zoo - 01

If you would like something to get your teeth into, try

The first state seceded from the Union 150 years ago; the argument still hasn't been settled

Many of the comments come from one side or other of the Mason-Dixon Line.  Unusually for a Telegraph blog, a good proportion of them are worth reading.

And now for who spoke the Christian-sounding sentence at the start of this blog.  It was Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, on 20 January 2005.  For the context, you can download the speech (it’s not desperately long) on:

www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/speeches/2005/speech235.pdf