<h2 class="eplus-13HbJ2 wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color eplus-wrapper">Friendly dog and Irish pub beat John Lewis</h2>

The early VictorianThe era when Queen Victoria was on the British throne, from 1837 to 1901.  period was a time when people were rediscovering Christmas traditions, and inventing new ones. Hardly anyone had a Christmas dinner in the 1820s, but by the 1850s, it was widespread. In 1833, a book of Christmas carols was published which helped bring them back into fashion. The first Christmas card was sent in 1843, the same year as A Christmas Carol was published. Dickens' book helped to invent the modern meaning of Christmas, by making it about family, charity, and having a good time. Scrooge starts out the novella implacably opposed to the spirit of Christmas, saying "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding," but he ends by wishing Merry Christmas, "with an earnestness that could not be mistaken".

Is love all we need? Made for just a few hundred pounds, a tear-jerking video about a lonely old man is this year's most talked-about Christmas advertisement.

Do you think he votes Labour? Judging by his mailbag, Father Christmas is the most popular person on the planet right now. So no wonder politicians want to know who he supports.

Is this the year to go fake? Everyone wants to reduce their environmental impact, but experts warn there are no easy solutions when choosing an eco-friendly Christmas tree.

The heart of the story is a question: can we change? Scrooge's story is a story of redemptionBeing saved from sin or evil, or doing good to make up for doing something wrong. . He is first visited by his friend Marley, who is cursed because of his heartlessness to suffer the "incessantSomething harmful or annoying that never seems to stop. torture of remorse". Scrooge, however, has a second chance. And, as Dickens tells the story, it becomes clear that someone can change by thinking about their life. Scrooge is reminded of a heartless thing he said about Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchitt's ill son, while secretly observing the Cratichitt family Christmas, and he is "overcome with penitenceRepentance, or feeling sorry for past wrongdoings. and grief". Gradually he learns to sympathise with other people.

Was it the right decision? Shamima Begum, who left Britain to join ISIS, has lost an appeal against a decision that denied her the right to reenter her country of birth. Critics say this is bad news for thousands of other citizens.

Can talking stop hatred? On 13 November 2015, gunmen killed 90 people at a rock concert in Paris. Georges Salines lost his daughter, but kept his hope and gained a friend.

Should we forgive cheating? Last week Beyonce and Jay-Z released their joint album. In it, Beyonce appears to forgive her husband for his earlier infidelity. Should others follow her lead?

Throughout his life Dickens was angry about the injustice of Victorian society. It was a time when the rich were getting richer and the poor, especially children, lived hard lives. Dickens himself was forced to work as a child when his father was imprisoned for a debt. Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed as a miserSomebody who saves as much as possible and spends as little as they can. , a man obsessed with money at the expense of everything else. He doesn't pay his clerk, Bob Cracthitt enough, and he thinks that all of human life can be reduced to money. When Bob Cratchitt asks for Christmas off, Scrooge calls Christmas, "A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!" This was the attitude that Dickens felt was becoming more and more common in Victorian Britain, and he hoped that the spirit of Christmas would help to change that. Scrooge himself is given a tour of Victorian Britain "in almshouseA house, provided by a charity, where people in poverty can live. They date back to medieval times. , hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge", to see the poor celebrating Christmas, and he realises how much better they deserve.

Should there be a limit to wealth? Right now the world's rich and powerful are meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos. Some think we would all be better off without them.

Is extravagance immoral? One of the world's most expensive sandwiches has divided social media. Some call it an outrage, but others say everyone benefits when the rich splash the cash.

Are too many gifts bad for us? Tomorrow is the biggest shopping day of the year. In the UK, people are set to spend £25bn on Christmas. But some say it doesn't make us happy.

<h2 class="eplus-nTnJx0 wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color eplus-wrapper">Both left and right claim Santa's support</h2>

Because poverty was so obvious in Victorian Britain there was a great emphasis on charity. Giving to others was something Dickens believed in. But Scrooge clearly does not. He is asked for a donation at the beginning to help the poor and destitute and he replies "Are there no prisons?". This was an attitude some of the rich shared, as they thought the poor needed to be discouraged from taking handouts in order to make them work harder. But others, including Dickens, thought such an attitude was cruel. Over the course of his ghostly visits, Scrooge comes to realise that charity is not just good for the poor, but good for himself.

Is effective altruism a good idea?  Supporters advocate using evidence-based reasoning to maximise good and mitigate long-term threats to humanity. Is this just too neat?

Is all philanthropy selfish? Mr Beast has donated huge sums to good causes and encouraged others to do the same. But some say he is only doing it to feed his ego and win viewers.

Do better rules of life make us happier? Though the number of people living in monasteries and convents has shrunk in modern times, some say we have much to learn from them.

A Christmas Carol is a ghost story, and a story about a Christian holiday. That means that the afterlife is one of its biggest concerns. Scrooge does not believe in ghosts, or the supernatural at all. When he first sees the ghost of Marley he calls him "an undigested bit of beef", as if he was a bad dream caused by eating something funny.  Victorian Britain was very Christian, but increasingly, modern science and life made people more sceptical. Dickens was not a very actively religious man, but he believed that faith made people better, and A Christmas Carol is sometimes read as an allegoryA story or poem that has a hidden moral or political meaning.  of a man finding his Christian faith.

Could ghosts really exist? New data shows that an enormous proportion of Americans believe in the paranormal. Scientists and psychologists are scrambling to find an explanation.

Could heaven really exist? Taryn Delanie Smith has delighted critics and created an internet sensation in the form of Denise, a hilarious New Yorker with a very responsible job.

Is there life after death? For centuries, people have believed that consciousness continues long after our hearts stop beating. Now a new Netflix series searches for scientific proof.

Novella - A long short story or short novel.

Encapsulated - Captured.

Repents - Feel very sorry for a bad thing you have done in the past.

Victorian - The era when Queen Victoria was on the British throne, from 1837 to 1901. 

Redemption - Being saved from sin or evil, or doing good to make up for doing something wrong.

Incessant - Something harmful or annoying that never seems to stop.

Penitence - Repentance, or feeling sorry for past wrongdoings.

Miser - Somebody who saves as much as possible and spends as little as they can.

Almshouse - A house, provided by a charity, where people in poverty can live. They date back to medieval times.

Allegory - A story or poem that has a hidden moral or political meaning.