Angels

Lantern

Comment

A war zone

Amid the fuss about Lapland New Forest at the start of the month, one visitor's remarks reported by the Guardian struck me as particularly insightful. Intending to criticise the painted "nativity scene" they commented that it "looked like it was plonked in the middle of a war zone".

Dear Israel, we get the picture. You don't have to make it any more true.

Comment

Left on the shelf

There weren't that many bargains to be had in the Reading branch of Woolworths today. It's fun seeing what stock they're left with. Plenty of WWF dolls, a few cups of pick'n'mix, and quite literally hundreds of everyone's favourite Batchelor Boy's autobiography.

Don't feel too sorry for him. I get the feeling Cliff likes being left on the shelf.

Visual Arts

London Wall mirrorball

Why has no-one done this before?

Just about every report I've found of Willie Williams' recent Lumia Domestica show at Wallspace has neglected to mention the most exciting part: the mirrorball of London Wall.

Hanging high in the church tower of All Hallows on the Wall, the ball scatters shards of light across the buildings of London Wall. With Deutsche Bank sitting directly opposite the metaphors are too clichéed to mention.

There'll be no better show of Christmas lights this year.

Music

Haleliwia

If you're going to buy any rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah this year, ignore the mainstream.

Try Brigyn's version. Here's a translation of the first verse:

The White Star in a fist of steel,
There's a shadow of a gun over Bethlehem,
No white angel singing "Hallelujah".
Raising the walls, closing the doors,
Turning their backs on the value of the miracle,
The night's so dark on the streets of Palestine.

They'll shift less than 1% of the units Alexandra Burke does, but deserve to be alongside her, Cohen and Buckley in the charts on Sunday.

Personal

No tinsel in the Bible

Apparently I have a "bah-humbug" image at work. Why else would my desk now be covered with the most tasteless of decorations?

Since I'm already so labelled, I may as well live up to it. There was no tinsel in the Bible so there's now none around my workplace either.