I've been in Singapore just before Christmas a number of times in the last few years. The Singaporeans go crazy over Christmas - well, the trappings, anyway - and decorate the main streets with much more gusto and bravura than anything I've seen in Christian countries.

I asked a Singaporean friend why it was so popular. It appears that it's a hangover from the colonial days when Britain ran the island. It was the longest holiday that Singaporeans got at that time, so they celebrated that rather than the religious basis. Now, of course, the retailers have a field day ...

One of the biggest Christmas trees I've ever seen was set up across the road from the Raffles Hotel in 2000.


The idiot also known as Capfka ...