Christmas Cards

international | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Sunday November 13, 2005 15:15 by iosaf

36 days to go, and I'm sure many of the readers are like my good self, drawing up the list for Christmas Cards 2005.

I enjoy these gradually shortening days and evenings as Winter comes on. The garden becomes more manageable, all the roses are pruned, and flower beds have been dug, I find more time to relax and draw up the list.

Of course at this time of year it may number some thousands of names, and then the fun bit comes-

Crossing off the names. It is my annual project to "not send" christmas cards to many thousands of people, from both public and private life. & I have noted that they don't send me one either.

So its works out quite fairly in the end, but I do find myself wondering around New Year's Eve if they really know "they've been black-listed".

Of course everyone's list is their own, & fare be it from me to influence your traditional messages og good will, solidarity, affection and admiration. But I am going to recommend one "non-governmental organisations" christmas cards this year. [that is of course till someone else proves they've hired factories of underpaid exploited workers to make them and "end poverty" bracelet like they're scamming us.

Looking around the backwaters of Irish ngo sites I have seen that the group "one in four" http://www.oneinfour.org/ have presented little cards to send to those forgotten uncles and aunties of your childhood. & at only 6€ for half a dozen, they're a snip.
And you might find space to squeeze in these statistics :-
* 27 % of all Irish children, one in four, have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 17.
* 4.15% of all Irish children, almost one in 20, have been raped as children.
* 21.25% of all Irish adults, one in five, reported sexual assaults as adults.
* 3.5% of all Irish adults one in 28 have been raped as adults.
You can read more here -
http://www.oneinfour.org/about/irishstatistics/

Really Impressive stuff, once again Ireland leads. Maybe other readers will offer suggestions for better christmas cards "to send or not to send", or suggest VIPs we could send a box.