:: Is that an ironic statement? ::

Yes, it's that time of the year when kiddies save up all their pocket money to buy some tat for Mummy. It's too late to get them delivered before the big day now, but the b3ta gift guide does list some good stuff. Many of the books are available throughout the UK if you've still got stuff to get in the Christmas Eve dash. Sadly you won't be able to benefit from the Santa Free Zones as you swim through the crowds thronging Oxford Street. And if you're shopping in Poland, just make sure you don't get too irate... Or you could just enter the bidding war for the latest over-priced food item to go on sale...

Sir Ian McKellen has taken to the boards of the Old Vic to play Widow Twanky in Aladdin - apparently it's quite good. But I'm not the world's biggest fan of the pantomime genre. In fact I'm only going to the SLT Panto under duress - it's a bit difficult to avoid when i know people in it. Snob that I am, I'd rather be at home watching Channel 4's excellent What We Still Don't Know or my new favourite film, The Five Obstructions...

Worst sentence in a sports report this week goes to the Grauniad's "post-traumatic Strauss disorder".

And finally, following a riproaring evening of duck and francophilia chez Lava Lamp, I've discovered a new passion for the works of Luis D'Antin Van Rooten. An example:

Un petit d'un petit
S'étonne aux Halles
Un petit d'un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent
Indolent qui ne sort cesse
Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu'importe un petit d'un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes

The full text is out of print but does appear on Amazon... Let's just hope I'll be able to get a copy, if not for Christmas, for my birthday in January!