What’s your image of Christmas in England? I bet it involves a crisp layer of snow underfoot, or at least a white scene visible from the windows of a cosy house as you tuck into your eighteenth mince pie (my mum’s are especially good).  Much as we’d all love a white Christmas here, it’s a most rare, elusive thing. I can’t remember one – in the sense of there being fresh snow on the ground on Christmas Day itself – since the early 1970s. Whether it’s the global warming they failed to tackle at Copenhagen, a shift in the earth’s axis or something, Christmas just seems a tiny little bit early for snow in England these days, although snow by early January is not nearly so uncommon. That week or two seems to make a lot of difference.

Northwick Park underground station

And perhaps it’s just as well, because another great English tradition is that as soon as it does snow, the entire country’s infrastructure instantly collapses and no one can go anywhere. This year, as you know, snow has come early for a change – and so has the resulting “travel chaos”. I’ll be driving from London to not far from Manchester on Christmas Eve, and expect the normal three to four hour journey to take more like six hours. I suppose it allows us to have a good old English moan. And at least the pre-Christmas tradition of parties and boozing wasn’t interrupted: my main Christmas “do” this year was in Pinner – on the very north-western edge of London – with colleagues from the hospital radio station I volunteer for, Radio Northwick Park. We got through an unexpected amount of Europe’s wine at Café Rouge before carrying on with beer at the Queen’s Head pub, where they were serving an excellent rich and ruddy Christmas ale, Batemans’ Rosey Nosey.

From yuletide traditions to political traditions, and one we’ve not had here in Britain: TV debates at election time. Unlike in the States, where Presidential debates are expected, they don’t happen in Britain, mainly because the leader whose party is ahead in the polls has felt they had nothing to gain, and everything to lose from such an encounter. But perhaps because Gordon Brown is so far behind in the opinion polls, he’s decided he should take the big risk of agreeing to debates; and his Conservative opponent David Cameron can’t afford to run scared. So at next year’s general election, there’ll be a series of three 90-minute debates, one on each of the BBC, ITV and Sky. And each debate will in fact be a three-way affair including the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, as well as the two main contenders.

Nick Clegg | Liberal Democrats | CreativeCommons

That in fact is the least discussed yet I think most important effect of the debates: they will give Nick Clegg exposure on equal terms with the two main party leaders, and (unless he performs abysmally) are bound to boost his standing and that of his third party. In an election that could yet be very close, that effect may be significant. If I were Clegg, I’d also be pressing for an economic debate between the parties’ Treasury spokesmen (something that has happened before) which would be a great showcase for Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats’ strongest asset, whose reputation has risen throughout the recession. Anyway, the debates are Nick Clegg’s best Christmas present for many years. Of the “big two”, David Cameron is the one with more to lose: the long format may help Gordon Brown demonstrate some of the substance and depth his supporters claim, and they must hope he can expose Cameron as superficial, glib and arrogant in comparison. Is Brown capable of landing a killer blow? He is a heavyweight, and anything is possible: the debates are a risk well worth his taking. But he needs a knock-out blow. If I were advising David Cameron I’d tell him to keep calm, float like a butterfly and just make sure the desperate Prime Minister’s big clunking fist doesn’t connect with his chin. If he stays on his feet and does not allow Clegg to outshine him, he’ll have achieved all he needs to.

The Speaker, Westminster

Talking of Westminster things, one of London’s very best pubs and an excellent place to visit if you’re near Parliament or Westminster Abbey is The Speaker, on the corner of Great Peter Street and Abbey Orchard Street, which was looking very seasonal and celebratory last night as I downed yet more Rosey Nosey with some old civil service friends. If you’re interested, the beer is available outside the UK now; the pub, though, remains firmly in Westminster. It’s named after the Speaker of the House of Commons, of course.

Infuriatingly, it looks as though the cold patch will be over by Thursday, giving way to the usual grey and damp rather than white Christmas, with just a bit of slush to remind us what might have been. A pity. Midnight on Christmas Eve, when everyone’s arrived wherever they’ll be spending the next 48 hours, would be the perfect time for the air to chill and the flakes to fall. It could happen one day. While we wait, have a good Christmas 2009. I expect to: I’ll be reading, watching the BBC and downing Christmas pudding (if I can manage it after the turkey, pork and stuffing) and a lot of those mince pies. I’ll see you again in general election year, 2010.

Author Info -  I'm a former lawyer turned blogger and writer. I live in London. Read more from this author

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