By columnist Norman Steele

THIS week I witnessed a disturbing scene. A young woman handed a small gift-wrapped parcel to another. ‘Merry Christmas, Suze!’ she said. ‘Thanks Emma!’ came the reply. I felt sick to the stomach.

Have we as a nation become so entitled, so accustomed to suckling on the rancid teat of the bloated welfare state, that we now expect to receive gifts for no reason? Are we such weaklings we would rather give ‘bath bombs’ than drop real bombs on Dresden and Cologne?

Christmas cheer has become an epidemic. On every high street, in every television advertisement, even in the workplace, we are urged to give ‘presents’. But what has our cossetted modern society done to earn it? Nothing. 

Millions of Britons lead a life of Riley on benefits. Millions more contribute nothing by working from home or in public sector non-jobs such as refuse collector or doctor. Many are Hamas sympathisers, still more are practising transsexualists. Quite simply, we do not deserve a ‘Merry Christmas’.

Women and the young are particularly susceptible to the woke ‘presents’ fad, I have noticed. On Tuesday my grandchildren informed me they wanted a ‘Peppa Pig Birthday House’ and an abomination known as a ‘Hatchimal’. In saner Victorian times they would have been grateful to receive an apple and a stick.

Even my wife, normally a stout, reliable type not given to flights of fancy, has indicated that she ‘would like some nice chocolates’. I have assured her this will not be happening. I have already given her children.

This orgy of hedonism – chocolate Brazil nuts, new slippers, repeats of Dr No – must stop. Are Lindt Mini-Praline Selections what the pilots of the Battle of Britain and the sailors of Nelson’s navy fought and died for?

No. They expected only a short and brutal life with the likelihood of horrific maiming. That is what we should aspire to today.