Tesco ginger jibe not on
Cross my heart it's true – chlamydia had such a ring to it, for one young Sunderland mother, she in all seriousness and ignorance, wanted to name her newborn daughter after this sexually transmitted infection.
You can't help laughing. But in a city like ours, where the level of intellect is so low in some quarters, it's no laughing matter.
Maybe the cost of giving teenagers as young as 15 a special Christmas
card warning about the dangers of chlamydia will be worth its weight in gold.
They are being handed out in schools and the city centre offering free chlamydia screening.
And given this infection has no symptoms and one in 10 young people are thought to have it, this is a novel and timely festive missive.
The hope is the safe sex message from Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust which highlights the increase in sexually transmitted diseases, hits the target.
Now is the time when drink will lead to more risky sexual encounters and anything that rings warning bells instead of jingle bells will hopefully save unwanted pregnancies, abortions and indeed chlamydia.
And that's a New Year surprise teens and twenties can avoid.
Spelling it out as it is makes seasonal good sense.
And still on the subject of cards and their messages, the most hurtful greeting was the one showing a red-headed boy sitting on Santa's lap with the words: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones."
Poking fun at children with ginger hair wasn't on.
Ginger Jims may have laughed it off but not Davinia Phillips, 30, whose three daughters are ginger. She saw red.
And as a result Tesco bosses immediately removed the cards from supermarkets across the UK.
It was down to David Nieberg, spokesman for Tesco, to make this weak apology: "We sell a large range of Christmas cards. It is never our intention to offend any customer and we are sorry if this card caused any upset.
"As soon as we heard about the card causing offence we removed it."
And surprise, surprise, the card maker, Quitting Hollywood, based in Basildon would not comment.
But there have been been plenty of comments on politician's official Christmas greetings.
Tellingly, hanging by a red string, a decoration in the shape of Number 10's famous door dangles from a holly tree on Gordon Brown's official Christmas card this year.
What a lot our cards say about us. In my case it's amazing folks ever get any.
And how amazing that what Christmas is all about never ceases to bamboozle, like the woman serving in a Sunderland card shop.
When faced with the question: "Do you have any cards with the Nativity on?" she took on a confounded look.
After some thought she saw the light with: "Oh, you mean the one with the little baby on it."
They didn't have any.
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
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