A Christmas message from Landra Whitehouse.

Start thinking for yourselves.

Well did you expect anything easy from me?

One thing has stood out for me this year amongst the beautifully packaged goods adorning our high streets, our low streets, our internet, television, in fact anything we set our eyes on is screaming at us visually, Buy me, Buy me, Buy me.

When you do not have the money to buy it can hurt. But why do we hurt because we cannot constantly treat ourselves to the wonderful array of goods on offer? We only hurt because we want what everyone else has and according to the advertisements anyone who is anyone has it all.

Well let me tell you my friends today I was in a place where a foreign lady was walking. The woman spoke wealth and money as she sauntered by, passing stores where many people were handing over huge sums of money or credit cards to get what she had. Mink coat, leather trousers, soft leather boots, snakeskin bag slung nonchalantly over the shoulder. She had what the advertisements tell us is everything. She stood out like a sore thumb. Was she what we should aspire to? I think not. She screamed wealth and opulence and she made me smile because she was no bigger a person than the beggar on the corner. Did I want to have her mink coat? I remember once dressing up really smart to go out and a friend asked me whose wedding I was going to, I laughed and said no ones. I am still me in spite of what I wear or buy.

The other thought from me during Christmas last year was – when did someone decide there was going to be a national Christmas Jumper Day?

This is another day to add to the Calendar, if you want to be one of the ‘in crowd’. Facebook took it up, every presenter on television wore their beautiful reindeer or snowflake jumpers. Children had to wear a Xmas jumper or pay a fine, so the parents rushed out to buy the Xmas jumpers every store was selling.

So when were these jumpers manufactured for the first event? Did the people of the UK say let’s have a National Xmas Jumper Day next week and the jumpers were manufactured and rushed across the oceans. We did not make them here, that is one sure fire thing. No, I have a sneaky feeling these jumpers were sitting there ready, made in some far off land ready for the announcement here in the UK that we were to have this National Xmas Jumper Day so that the system could sell all those jumpers that most people would not have touched with a bargepole or worn.

I call it being duped and whatever happened to supply and demand? Did we need all those jumpers? No but someone somewhere has made a fortune selling them to us.

Merry Christmas and please in 2014 try and start thinking for yourselves.