Christmas Cheer, or not

Stories of seasonal goodwill are increasingly rare these days, especially ones that involve the US postal service, Santa Claus and legendary producer Steve Albini.
So prepare to have your cold, cold hearts melted by this joyous tale. According to the Chicago Tribune, Albini (best known for his work with Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Will Oldham, Shellac, oh you get the idea) loads a van with money, clothes and toys raised each year in a charity drive and dishes them out to cash-strapped families across the city. "There's so much money that it can literally save a family's entire year," Albini told the Tribune.
So why are we telling you now? Because The Man is trying to put an end to this seasonal giving, that's why. Albini knows which families to contact because all letters in Chicago written to Santa are diverted to potential donors in the city. But a change in US policy means that these names and addresses will now be blacked out on "Dear Santa" letters, which, according to the Tribune, means that Albini and his wife, Heather Whinna, "can no longer cull through the thousands of letters that amass each winter at Chicago's post office, looking for the neediest families".
The details of why the policy has changed are a little complicated, and as they involve an alleged paedophile in Maryland, are also not really in keeping with the Christmas spirit. What it does mean is the Albini and Whinna are having to look for ways around this problem in the hope that they can keep giving at Christmas. One word guys: reindeer.

...and they want to run the country?

Sky are showing footage of a stunt that the Tories have been performing on Westminster Green this morning. They called it the G8 race to recovery and had runners, dressed up to represent all the G8, ambling towards a finishing line. At the back the UK figure, wearing a Gordon Brown mask, staggered way behind holding a huge pretend iron ball labelled "debt". They were trying to make the point that Britain is the only G8 country still in recession and blaming Brown for running up too much debt.
Unfortunately, they seem to have got debt and deficit muddled up. Britain does have a monstrously large deficit (the amount it is borrowing annually to fund the gap between the amount it is spending and the amount it is raising through taxation). But the debt (the amount UK plc owes because of all the money it has borrowed over the years) is actually relatively low by G8 standards.

Tiger by the Tail

Tiger Woods has been complaining about celebrity culture in the wake of recent events and revelations.
To a certain extent - he is correct - all things being equal, his business is not our business.
However, things are not equal.

People pay a premium to attend events which feature Tiger Woods, with Tiger getting more than his fair share of those receipts

People pay a premium to watch events on TV which feature Tiger Woods, with Tiger getting more than his fair share of those receipts

People pay a premium to wear his clothes, carry his clubs, play on his courses

These people pay his wages and his sacrifice is...

Wake up Tiger.