Now that the festive time is behind us (at least until September, when the shops will deck their halls with crimson holly once more) I think it’s as good a time as any to write a few words to put the subject to bed for a while.

Christmas probably divides even more people along the love it or loath it line than Hillary Clinton, so I realise that one or two of you will be tutting that I’ve even mentioned the prickly subject once more.

Outraged Star Trek fans from all across the world have converged on the Dorset village of Little Fraction to condemn what they regard as an insult to everything which is decent. The controversy centres on a play by Armando Hammer, a writer who says that his intention was not to shock.

“I feel it’s important to explore the different aspects of James T Kirk’s personality and accept that he may well have had these feelings for members of his crew. They were in space for five years, and we only saw about sixty hours worth of episodes. By my calculations that leaves almost forty four thousand hours unaccounted for. Who knows what might have gone on while the cameras were off?”

Cover of Sarah McLachlan's Fallen

Well, thanks 2007. It's been jolly spanking good fun knowing you. For me at least, it's not been a bad year. But I find myself entering 2008 with more resolve than ever to "do something about my fitness".

This won't be the first time I've made New Year's Resolutions, and it most certainly won't be the first time when I break them. But as part of my on-going midlife crisis, I've finally acknowledged that I'm in pretty awful shape and that I need to do something about it as a matter of urgency.

Not exactly what you would expect from a religion based on love and trust, but it is true.

Many Christmases ago, when I was small and I used to go to Sunday school at the local Methodist Church where my mother was the organist, one Christmas Day I was asked to choose my favourite toy to take to church.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year to Ann, Phil & Alice Gallie...