On every day until Christmas, someone, somewhere is on strike. That, combined with colder weather and the need for more heating making the cost of living crisis very real for many thousands of us, means the Government's advent calendar is like no other. Kirsty Buchanan, a former special adviser to Theresa May, compares this run up to Christmas to what is usually calm and traditionally a period that's a little easier to allow exhausted political staff a bit of a break. Calum was at the Times Radio, The Times, and The Sunday Times joint Christmas party last night; Kirsty has a cold. We've got an update on Oscar, and a nod ahead to Whitehall Sources 2.0. Also a new concept from Kirsty: front footery vs back footery. What's it like getting woken up at 2am with news of a political crisis? And we open the doors to The Correspondence Unit to read your - very well informed and insightful - messages. Email anytime: [email protected].

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