Happy Christmas

Amid wars and rumours of war the poor old earth staggers on towards the end of another year. Poverty is still rampant; wars are still being fought; there is famine in Yemen, while Trump wallows hand in hand (a euphemism) with the Saudis and Putin; and every year the carol "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" becomes more apt and more impossible to sing through the tears it engenders, particularly verse 3:

     Yet with the woes of sin and stir,
     The world hath suffered long;
     Beneath the angel-strain have rolled,
     Two thousand years of wrong;
     And man, at war with man, hears not,
     The love song which they bring:
     O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
     And hear the angels sing.

Through all the sorrow and strife, and in spite of all attempts to drown it out, may you hear the angels' song this Christmas and follow the star throughout the New Year.