Wishes come true for trans youth thanks to Transanta donors’ goodwill

A project from an anti-discrimination creative arts organization pairs LGBTQ+ youth in need of help with donors willing to give it

At first glance, they could be letters to Santa Claus from any excited young child, hoping they have been good enough to earn a special gift. Meek is looking forward to hearing sleigh bells: “I think I have tried my best this year. I try to be positive,” they wrote. Alex, meanwhile, would love a bicycle and gift cards to bring some cheer to the end of an “extremely hard year”.

Look a little deeper, and all is not as it seems. The letters are genuine, but their authors are young people who are transgender or non-binary, writing not to the North Pole but to an alternative seasonal benefactor named Transanta, whose workshop exists in cyberspace.

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Darlene Love says U2’s cover of her Christmas classic is best around

US singer of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), recorded in 1963, says she rates U2’s 1987 version as finest of many covers

Darlene Love’s classic tune Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) has spurred numerous covers over the years, but to the singer herself, only one stands above the rest, she recently revealed.

Speaking on the podcast Behind the Table, Love, 82, said U2’s rendition of her hit Christmas song is the best cover.

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Fortnum & Mason online customers hampered by service ‘glitches’

Online shoppers at the upmarket London grocer complain about being billed twice and being on hold for nearly 90 minutes

Customers of the luxury grocer Fortnum & Mason have been complaining about difficulties placing orders and getting a response from customer services during a busy Christmas period for the retailer.

Some shoppers at the store, which holds a royal warrant and is famed for its Christmas hampers, have taken to social media and review websites to complain about being charged multiple times after repeating transactions thinking they had not gone through.

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UK Christmas shoppers will pay more for less this year, say economists

Cost of festive season is up almost a quarter in three years, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research

Consumers will pay more for less this Christmas, economists have warned, getting less of a bang for their buck than the faint phutting of a puny, overpriced cracker being pulled.

Although Britons will spend more than in the belt-tightening 2022 festive season, the resultant fare won’t yet match the pre-pandemic Christmases past.

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Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree hits US No 1 – 65 years after release

At 78, Lee becomes oldest person to top US singles chart, beating record held by Louis Armstrong since 1964

Brenda Lee has smashed a series of US chart records as her perennial festive favourite Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, first released in 1958, has finally reached No 1 on the Hot 100.

Written by Johnny Marks, the man behind Christmas favourites such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, the song was recorded when Lee was 13. Initially a flop, it rose to the US Top 20 in 1960 after Lee’s pop career had taken off and earned her back-to-back No 1 singles earlier that year.

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University Challenge special axed over lack of support for disabled contestants

Christmas alumni episode had one blind entrant and another who was neurodivergent, both of whom say they did not get help

The BBC has apologised and pulled a Christmas episode of University Challenge after two contestants complained about a lack of provision for their disabilities.

The festive spin-off from the BBC Two quiz show, hosted by Amol Rajan, features teams of distinguished alumni who compete on behalf of their former universities.

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One in four adults in UK to buy now, pay later for Christmas, study shows

Citizens Advice warns such credit schemes risk delivering ‘knockout blow’ to household finances

More than a quarter of adults in the UK will use buy now, pay later to help with festive spending, research suggests, with the proportion rising to more than half of parents with young children.

The survey for Citizens Advice also found 11% of respondents used such credit schemes to pay for groceries, a proportion that rose to 35% for regular BNPL users.

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Nigella Lawson tells Britain to give Christmas cake the heave-ho-ho-ho

TV cook says she will be making chocolate cake this year, a new tradition for her household

It may be one of the longest-standing festive traditions, but Nigella Lawson has urged people to ditch Christmas cake this year and opt for a family-friendly chocolate one instead.

The celebrity chef said there was no point in having a dried fruit cake “gathering dust” on the kitchen counter, and families should choose a festive dessert that would go down better with visiting guests over the winter break.

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LadBaby bows out of Christmas No 1 race after five consecutive chart-toppers

Record-breaking run comes to an end after raising over £1m for food bank charity The Trussell Trust

After beating the Beatles’ record for the most UK Christmas No 1s and raising well over £1m for charity, YouTube star LadBaby is bowing out of this year’s race for the festive top spot.

Mark Hoyle, with his wife Roxanne and their two sons in support, has reached No 1 at Christmas every year since 2018, with a series of songs featuring punning reworks – chiefly centred on sausage rolls – of classic rock songs.

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AI Pictionary and a ‘robo-dog’ make UK shops’ hottest Christmas toy lists

Retailers hope new version of top-selling board game plus Dog-E will help fuel festive sales recovery

A new version of Pictionary that pits artist against artificial intelligence and a pet “robo-dog” with a wagging tail are among the toys destined to appear on Christmas lists this year as retailers pray for better sales during the key festive trading period.

With the cost of living crisis looming large over another year’s celebrations, the Toy Retailers Association’s annual DreamToys list of the 20 “hottest” gifts includes a dozen that are under £50. Among them is Pictionary vs AI (£24), a new version of the classic board game that pitches (terrible) human sketches against the might of AI processing power.

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Royal Mail loses 360-year monopoly on delivering parcels from Post Office sites

Customer dissatisfaction with service thought to be reason for expanding remit to Evri and DPD

Royal Mail is to lose its 360-year-old monopoly on delivering parcels from Post Office branches, after concerns about poor quality of service persuaded the postal service to sign deals with rivals Evri and DPD in the run-up to Christmas.

The two couriers would be added to the options available at the counter from later this month, the Post Office said, with customers given a choice for the first time.

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UK recession fears grow as shoppers cut spending ‘to save for Christmas’

Drop in retail sales also because of consumer worries over high energy bills and mortgages, surveys suggest

Fears that the UK is heading for a recession this winter have intensified amid signs Britain’s hard-pressed households are cutting spending as they save for Christmas and higher fuel bills.

Two monthly snapshots of retail activity found shops and online outlets struggling because of consumer budgets being squeezed by dearer mortgages and the UK’s lingering cost of living crisis.

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Ukraine moves Christmas date to 25 December in snub to Russia

Ukrainian church has traditionally observed the holiday on 7 January, in line with the Moscow patriarchy

Ukraine has moved its official Christmas holiday to 25 December in a break with the Russian Orthodox church, which celebrates it on 7 January.

The bill signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday highlights the deepening rift between churches in Kyiv and Moscow since Russia’s invasion of its pro-western neighbour.

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More than 14,000 in Washington state lose power after energy station attacked

Christmas Day outages add to an alarming string of incidents with similar power grid vandalism in Oregon and North Carolina

More than 14,000 people suffered power outages in Washington state on Christmas Day following burglaries and a series of vandalisms at different power stations.

The Pierce county sheriff said in two statements that no suspects have yet been identified for the incidents.

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UK retailers face quieter Boxing Day amid cost of living crisis

An estimated £3.8bn will be spent on 26 December, down almost 4% on last year

Retailers are preparing for a quieter Boxing Day this year despite freedom from pandemic restrictions as the cost of living crisis weighs on shoppers’ budgets.

Spending is expected to hit almost £3.8bn on 26 December, according to research by GlobalData for Vouchercodes.

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King Charles’s Christmas message – text in full

Monarch reflects on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in first Christmas Day broadcast

I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, the late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father.

I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.

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Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis call for end to war in Ukraine

Pontiff says world suffering from ‘famine of peace’ as Justin Welby praises example of late monarch

The archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis have used their Christmas addresses to call for an end to the war in Ukraine.

During his sermon, Justin Welby also spoke of those suffering “immense anxiety and hardship” during the cost of living crisis and made reference to the “desperate struggles of hospital wards”.

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‘It can be a difficult time’: Albanese helps to serve Christmas meal for Australians in need

PM spends Christmas morning at Ashfield Uniting Church in Sydney’s inner west along with NSW Labor leader Chris Minns

Anthony Albanese has joined volunteers to serve a Christmas meal to vulnerable Sydneysiders and has acknowledged Australians who are doing it tough at what should be a joyful time of year.

Albanese spent the morning the same way he does every year, at the Ashfield Uniting Church in his inner-western Sydney electorate with the Rev Bill Crews.

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‘You see trees on sale’: the easing of Saudi Arabia’s Christmas taboo

Furtive transactions a thing of the past as retailers tentatively sell decorations openly

In previous years during the run-up to Christmas, Alia Obaidi would go to the local market in Riyadh, summon an Indian merchant and whisper her order. A short time later, he’d return with a cardboard box from a back room and furtively collect money.

But things have changed. When Alia, a Lebanese resident of the Saudi capital, made her annual trip to source Christmas decorations this year, she no longer needed the merchant, or the subterfuge.

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