Christmas day in the Workhouse

[Frank63]

T'was Christmas day in'th workhouse ,a time for happiness and cheer

When in walked the workhouse Beadle with his belly full of beer

He stood there in the doorway, looked up at the grimey walls

Said " Merry Christmas Everyone" , then somebody shouted " BALLS !!"

This made the Beadle angry, he said " By the wrath of God",

"You'll get no Christmas pudding, you cheeky little sod"

Then up stood a bull-nosed youngster his face as bold as brass

" You can keep your Christmas pudding and stick it up your arse"

Merry Christmas everyone

Frank

[VladTheImpala]

'Twas Christmas day in the workhouse
The snow was raining fast
A barefooted boy with shoes on
Stood, sitting on his arse.

And The Best of British to you too.

[christoph404]

Charming little rhymes, I do pray that you will not be carol singing or reciting such poetry in public this festive season especially with those profound lyrics!!... still, its good to see the spirit of Christmas is alive and well this year despite many local councils determination to "cancel Christmas" lest it offend those who are not of the Christian faith!...

[batman]

What was that Australian 'song' about Santa Claus and a missing bike .....

Bats.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by christoph404 still, its good to see the spirit of Christmas is alive and well this year despite many local councils determination to "cancel Christmas" lest it offend those who are not of the Christian faith!...

Is that hoary old myth still circulating?
No council as ever proposed such a thing!

The closest was when Birmingham council talked about having a "Winterval" festival. But that was in addition to their usual Christmas celebrations, not instead of it

Steve

[batman]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook Is that hoary old myth still circulating? No council as ever proposed such a thing! Steve

No, but Alan Rickman did ....

Bats.

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by batman No, but Alan Rickman did .... Bats.

Yes, quite, I was going to say Nottingham Council did but you beat me to it!

[VladTheImpala]

Hardly a new phenomenon - Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas on the grounds that it might offend christians.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by VladTheImpala Hardly a new phenomenon - Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas on the grounds that it might offend christians.

It was because he didn't want people to have a big feast and get drunk, not because it might offend Christians. How can Christmas offend Christians? Christmas itself can't, the way that people celebrate it might.

Steve

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by christoph404 Yes, quite, I was going to say Nottingham Council did but you beat me to it!

Meanwhile, back in the real world ...
It's amazing how the old story about councils banning Christmas still regularly surfaces. And not just in the Daily Hate Mail

Steve

[VladTheImpala]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook It was because he didn't want people to have a big feast and get drunk, not because it might offend Christians. How can Christmas offend Christians? Christmas itself can't, the way that people celebrate it might. Steve

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook Meanwhile, back in the real world ... It's amazing how the old story about councils banning Christmas still regularly surfaces. And not just in the Daily Hate Mail Steve

I was being a tad ironic about councils banning christmas, but usually at this time of year the tabloids like to whip up racial or cultural unease or outrage with stories about why Santa will not be wearing a red and white outfit because it symbolises US capitlaist culture and advertising (ie supposedely the coca cola company) but will be wearing a green outfit instead, or local schools are reluctant to stage the nativity play because many of the kids in class are muslims, or hindu or whatever.....and so on.....many stories like that seem to crop up with monotonous regularity and are usually over sensationalised rubbish. Trevor Philips is the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commision and wrote an interesting article in the Evening standard a few days ago entitled "Why be ashamed to Celebrate Christmas" In his article he points to many newspaper headlines up and down the country, aided and abetted by some spectacularly silly public authorities,headlines such as "Kiljoys ban Xmas", "Councils ban Xmas lights for fear of offending ethnic minorities", "Nativity Plays to be scrapped" etc. The point he is making is that there are some examples of very stupid people in public authorities who are making rather stupid declarations but these stories are seized upon by some of the national tabloids to suggest a more general and sinister trend ( ie councils ban christmas) and that ethnic minorities want to undermine our national traditions while having their own foreign ways protected by law- and by PC outfits. He suggests this is what the tabloids would like us to believe and unfortunately many people do..it is of course utter rubbish, silly stories stirred up by blatantly racist tabloids such as those mentioned in this thread...

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by christoph404 I was being a tad ironic about councils banning christmas, but usually at this time of year the tabloids like to whip up racial or cultural unease or outrage with stories about why Santa will not be wearing a red and white outfit because it symbolises US capitlaist culture and advertising (ie supposedely the coca cola company) but will be wearing a green outfit instead, or local schools are reluctant to stage the nativity play because many of the kids in class are muslims, or hindu or whatever.....and so on.....many stories like that seem to crop up with monotonous regularity and are usually over sensationalised rubbish. Trevor Philips is the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commision and wrote an interesting article in the Evening standard a few days ago entitled "Why be ashamed to Celebrate Christmas" In his article he points to many newspaper headlines up and down the country, aided and abetted by some spectacularly silly public authorities,headlines such as "Kiljoys ban Xmas", "Councils ban Xmas lights for fear of offending ethnic minorities", "Nativity Plays to be scrapped" etc. The point he is making is that there are some examples of very stupid people in public authorities who are making rather stupid declarations but these stories are seized upon by some of the national tabloids to suggest a more general and sinister trend ( ie councils ban christmas) and that ethnic minorities want to undermine our national traditions while having their own foreign ways protected by law- and by PC outfits. He suggests this is what the tabloids would like us to believe and unfortunately many people do..it is of course utter rubbish, silly stories stirred up by blatantly racist tabloids such as those mentioned in this thread...

I doubt if even any local councils are that silly. I think they're just made up by the tabloids

Steve

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook I doubt if even any local councils are that silly. I think they're just made up by the tabloids Steve

mmmmm, well I do agree that the so called war on christmas is a myth but I think the papers base their exagerated stories on real events which are in fact based on silly behaviour by local authorities, for example a recent headline in the Mirror which read "killjoys ban christmas lights" was in reality a ban by the local council engineer on hanging christmas lights on lamposts throughout the Dorset town of Ferndown, a tradition that had been upheld for years previously, for what he maintained was health and safety reasons.The council cited the fact that the lamposts had not been designed with that function in their structure, though they were designed to withstand gale force winds and cars crashing into them. The Mayor said it was health and saftey gone mad and an indication of the litigous society we now live in, so a rather silly situation but nothing to do with upsetting minority groups. I think it is also true to say that Christmas decorations are banned in many workplaces, especially council offices simply for health and safety reasons, ie, employees are not permitted to get up ladders and shakily hang their decorations from the ceiling! I even read about a job centre that banned a Christmas tree because it was feared it culd be used as a weapon against staff by irate clients.....thats a pretty stupid dictum that leaves itself wide open for a nice juicey anti ethnic story in the daily trash papers! I do agree that the "war on Christmas" stories are generally made up but tabloid writers are not clever or inventive to make them up themselves....I think they need inspiration or some real event to base their rubbish on!