Our political debate stops at Christmas — but this hasn’t always been the case. It was only in the Victorian era that Christmas was reinvented as a time for family and domesticity, with no room for politics. Should politics return to Christmas? Has it been there all along? University of St Andrews Senior Lecturer in Theology Rev Dr Stephen Holmes speaks to Alex Andreou about the politics of Christmas. 

• “Christmas is heavily focused around the narrative of the birth of Jesus, a narrative which is inescapably political.” - Rev Dr Stephen Holmes

• “We think of Christmas as a time when you want to gather the family, shut the door, put your slippers on and relax together. You really don't want to be faced with the realities of injustice and pain in the world." - Rev Dr Stephen Holmes

• “It's very, very hard to separate the idea of charity and altruism, from some sort of political judgement about how the world is and how it should be.” - Rev Dr Stephen Holmes

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Written and Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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