At Christmas time, there'a no need to be afraid...

...at Christmas time, we let in light and we banish hate...." So sang Paul Young at the beginning of Bob Geldof's mega charity smash hit, "Feed the World". Hard to argue with the sentiments and the objective although some cynics have noted that the Bandaid/Liveaid project seems to have done far more to enhance His Bobness's well-being than that of the average Ethiopian. Ah well, a bit of collateral benefit is no reason for not trying to help.

 

It's hard to know what to say about Christmas that hasn't already been said. I love it myself, even though I may moan with the best of them about the commercialising of the whole thing, nothing good on TV, turkeys don't taste like they used to, etc., etc. We might not be able to raise millions like Bob G but we all feel a bit more charitable at this time of year I think and chuck a few bob in the direction of the Sally Army band. Or even that dodgy busker we've been avoiding all year. Wouldn't it be good if you could somehow capture this mood and extend it over the rest of the year? But that never seems to happen.

 

The same sort of problem applies to the Olympics. During the summer, everyone marvelled at the change of attitude in London and indeed, the whole country, helped along by some great British sporting achievements. There was constant talk of "legacy" and how we had to ensure that this sporting fervour penetrated to the further reaches of the population and transformed us into a nation of finely-honed athletes, instead of the pizza-munching fatties that we are. Well some of us. Not me and you, obviously. We also wanted to make sure that the vast amount of money lavished on the new facilities was not wasted on a few weeks of sporting endeavour but would provide the means for our crop of newly-enthused youngsters to reach new sporting heights. Well this is where I do put on my cynical trousers and express serious doubts.

 

You see people have short memories. In a week or two, we'll have forgotten about Christmas, apart from the reminder provided by the expanded waistline, and already the Olympics are fading from memory. The issue here is "cultural change". This is rarely talked about in the context of national culture but is a term often bandied about in companies and other corporate bodies, where the practical application of this often involves some dreaded team-building "awayday". You've probably been on one of these: you have a series of group exercises where you have to be nice to everyone, including those people from the sixth floor who make your life a misery the rest of the year, and you all pretend to love each other and subscribe to whatever new corporate ethos is flavour of that particular month. Does the corporate culture change as a result? Rarely.

 

So how do you effect cultural change? Well of course it happens naturally over time in any case but if you want to do it quickly and steer it in the direction you want it to go, you need to do something pretty big and you need to be the head honcho. You need to be a Hitler or a Mao Tse Tung or a Stalin. My word these people shook things up. Only problem was the millions of dead bodies left in their wake.  So a few drawbacks here.

 

Or you need to be Jesus. Or Buddha, or Mohamed. Which, in the case of the first, brings us back to Christmas. No mean achievement to have a large proportion of the world's population celebrate your birth some 2,000 years after your death, even if most of them tend to forget about your ideas for most of the year. So you must have been quite a guy and that's what it takes to change the world: a big man with big ideas, who hangs around longer than most elected politicians and who doesn't have to worry about buying votes. And one who doesn't have a gun in his hand.

Speaking of guns brings us to the awful event in the USA the other day. Obama said all the right things but will he be able to change the US's gun-toting culture? Not a chance. Unlike the people listed above, he doesn't have the power and he won't be around long enough. If Jesus really does pop up in Utah then you might see some movement in the right direction but until then...

 

Only 3 more days until that Mayan calendar runs out. So get back to your Christmas shopping and don't get me any more bloody socks!