This is the illusionist, in which I, Helen Zoltzman swaddle myself in language and lay myself

in a manger.

Coming up in today's show, a festive case of, if you repeat a lie enough times, that makes

it as good as true, right?

Post truth is not a new phenomenon for 2016, friends.

There's a little drinking game you could play during this episode if you want.

One swig every time you hear the phrase, political correctness gone mad.

Nothing too strong, I don't want you to have passed out before the end of the story,

on with the show.

The War on Christmas.

When did that start?

Upon the birth of Jesus Christ himself, when King Herod ordered all the baby boys in and

around Bethlehem be killed?

In 1644, when Oliver Cromwell's Puritans passed an ordinance prohibiting Christmas celebrations

in England.

In 1659, when the Massachusetts Bay colony Puritans managed to get Christmas burn for 22 years

for being a pagan festival, or was it in 1998, in Britain's second largest city, Birmingham?

If you picked up practically any newspaper at the time, you would have read the Birmingham

City Council had renamed Christmas, Winterville.

Birmingham will celebrate the festive season as usual this year with Carol singing, fairy

lights and street entertainment, but don't call it Christmas, Council officials have renamed

it Winterville, in the hope of creating a more multicultural atmosphere in keeping with

...