I Am Winning the Traditional Christmas Arguments.

All of Them.

If I had more time and/or talent I would merge this into a final; "Britain's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement: Part Four."Essentially a tidied up version of Part Three; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/12/britains-brexit-withdrawal-agreement_15.html

In that I made the point that I sort of came-of-age politically during the anti-globalisation protests. Against thing like the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

However I grew up in a mixed, English-Catholic, Irish-Protestant family. So my childhood in the 1980's wasn't exactly politics free. Particularly if the gathering was due to a religious rite. Such as Baptisms, Weddings, Communions.

A tradition my family has continued.

Such as my mothers', technically Civil Partnership. Which marked the start of the August, 2011 riots. Or my cousin's wedding amongst trauma doctors at the Royal London Hospital. Just before the Lee Rigby terror attack.

Incidentally that reception began with a traditional Gaelic toast. Prominently featuring the phrase; "Sinn Fein." It ended with the playing of Sloop John B.

Apparently that's not stressful enough for my family though.

As you may have heard my English-Catholic brother has long been dating a (British) Indian-Muslim.

To give you some perspective on the challenges this involves for the first three years of the relationship he wasn't able to introduce her to his father. Simply because she's Muslim. Likewise she could not introduce him to her father. Again simply because he's not a Muslim.

I can assure you  that her father and his lesbian mothers have never met.

However in 2015 she did celebrate Christmas for the very first time. With his lesbian mothers and his, frankly amazing brother.

From the inside this was a pleasant time and a lot of fun. Even if I was nursing some pretty significant PTSD symptoms from the November 13th Paris Massacres. And the subsequent failure of the COP21 Climate Change conference.

Most of Christmas traditions are not religious at all. They are also very heavily centred around young children. It was quite fun introducing a fully grown adult to them for the first time.

From the outside however it must have looked extremely contentious.

Muslims are not famous for being relaxed about attempts to convert people to Christianity. I'm sure one or two people have heard of Pakistan's Blasphemy laws.

Not only are groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) somewhat intolerant of Christians they can, from time-to-time be a little bit violent.

I say you may have heard of this. It was the inspiration for supermarket giant Tescos 2017 Christmas advertising campaign. Which set out to start a national debate over the question;

"Can you invite a Muslim neighbour to a Christmas party without starting a war?"

Whether I would be able to repeat the trick in 2016 was a significant factor in the start of the Astana Process on Syria. Originally scheduled for December 27th 2016 (27/12/16).

Which is why Britain poisoned the Skripals. During the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Britain's continued attempts to falsely blame Russia for the Skripal poisoning is now causing problems of genocidal proportions.

I wasn't able to make it down to Salisbury for the day in 2016. I did though get my brother a rather excellent gift. A full, and lawfully valid driving license.

Last Friday (21/12/18), marked the winter Solstice. Amongst British Druids this a big event. Marked at Stonehenge. For many Iranians and Kurds it is also a big event. Known as; "Yalda." Although Iran's Muslim leaders very much try to suppress this pagan practice.

My English-Catholic brother chose this day to surprise everyone. By unilaterally asking his Indian-Muslim girlfriend to become his wife.

So on Friday (21/12/18) night the least popular person in all of Britain was whomever had been using drones to shut down Gatwick Airport.

By Saturday (22/12/18) morning the least popular person in all of Britain was my brother.

Obviously I would have liked to have discussed this with them in person. Rather than on the Internet. However he is now of the belief that he is so special he doesn't need to visit his father over Christmas.

By Sunday (23/12/18) morning this had all got too much for Sussex Police. The phrase they were looking for was either;

"The Couple are to be Charged."

Or;

"The Couple are to be Released. Under Criminal Investigation."

I should probably point out that Sussex Police are the only force on the British mainland to use one of the "Pig" armoured Land Rovers common in Northern Ireland. They use it to guard Gatwick Airport. Although they did once send it round my house.

So, before it spiralled out of control the Gatwick Airport thing was to give Britain a small taste of what a No Deal Brexit would look like.

Judging by the public reaction to, the frankly national hero responsible.

Well. I wouldn't want to be the elected official who does that to all of Britain's airports. Indefinitely.

19:15 on 24/12/18 (UK date).