Spirituality forgotten in the Santa Saturnalia

Turning on the computer to the by now mind-numbingly familiar imploration to “shop great holiday deals on your favorite devices and accessories”, I realised that within a week of Christmas Day I have not heard or seen a single reference to the Nativity of Jesus, Star of Bethlehem, Wise Men or Shepherds and their Flocks.

In choosing a few e-cards to send, I redressed this personal balance by favouring those with a religious or semi-religious theme, often accompanied by carols from the much-loved Salisbury Cathedral Choir in the United Kingdom. I hope my friends will forgive this minor spiritual intrusion into their lives.   

Growing up in Britain, I had learnt the words for Away in a Manger by the time I was three. Christmas seasons would not have been the same without the Salvation Army band on the street corner pumping out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen among many others, carol singers still went door-to-door with their versions of Silent Night and Good King Wenceslas.

My school marked Christmas with a carol service at our parish church where, in my final year, I was selected to read the Lesson.  

There was still plenty of time for visits to Santa Claus and the local department store (never just Santa — that was disrespectful) and for the excitement of giving and receiving presents.

In more mature years, there were Christmas drinks and often boisterous celebrations with friends and work colleagues that owed little to the religious aspect of the season, but even then we were always aware of why we were raising our glasses, and the noisy final song after pub throw-out time was more likely to be The First Noel, than Show Me the Way to Go Home.

A Christian Christmas does not have the same influence it once had. Australia is a multicultural and multi-faith nation, a development a recent poll showed is supported by an overwhelming majority of the population.

The festive season still presents the opportunities for family reunions and for work colleagues to celebrate together and come to know each other as fellow human beings and even friends – developments that are entirely positive.  

There were times, not so long ago, when Christmas was also a time for rest and contemplation of a possible spiritual element to our existence on this Earth, something that could be shared by all regardless of culture and faith — or lack of. 

However, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the ‘Pre-Christmas Sales’ (remember when they didn’t begin until 1 January) these opportunities have been sucked out of Christmas, leaving nothing but an advertising-saturated, Harvey Norman-dominated Santa Saturnalia amidst heaving crowds and mounting heat until suddenly all is swept away in a pile of destroyed gift wrap, and the Boxing Day Test is on the TV.

 

Party time — let’s keep it that way

In the lead-up to Christmas a rather Grinch-like story from the United States which finds that increasing numbers of workers are dodging social events, including end-of-year parties with their colleagues, in favour of a strict nine-to-five regime.

Writer, Anne Marie Chalker quotes the example of Maryland research director who was leaving her job and expected 100 colleagues to turn up for farewell after-work drinks — fewer than 10 made an appearance.

“I guess people are just busy,” she said rather sadly.

While that evidence is anecdotal, Chalker quotes corporate event planners who say they are seeing less interest in work-related functions taking place outside normal business hours.

She believes the COVID-19 pandemic is the cause, with many more people working at least part of the time at home, meaning fewer opportunities for impromptu office happy hours and staying out late.

While this is understandable, I would hate to see Australia follow this example and the opportunities for office socialisation fade away. Organised properly, they are excellent times for networking, meeting people from outside your immediate area of expertise, understanding their problems and, in many cases, forming genuine and long-lasting friendships.

Semi-retired, I have fewer opportunities for such events these days, but recently, while lunching with my wife and a friend at a popular Canberra restaurant, I found that here at least the office Christmas party is alive and well.

We were lucky to get our orders in before a lively group of 20 descended on us. A few minutes later a smaller group arrived, with at least one, a remote worker, just off the plane to join her colleagues.

The restaurant owner told me the next week was dues to be the busiest he had experienced since the pandemic before the inevitable tailing off as Christmas got ever closer.

My thoughts go back to younger days in the United Kingdom and the heaving masses that packed the pub next door to our office from midday on cold Christmas Eves; double rounds when you could reach the bar as thoughts about returning to work melted away along with inhibitions and any sense of decorum.  

I have no wish to return to those days, but with greater maturity, I have valued the opportunities to meet workmates away from our desks, to discover their likes and dislikes, often to find we had similar interests and views. Even to share their hopes and sorrows.

We live in stressful times. Christmas itself can be a source of disillusionment and even dread for those who spend weeks preparing for the family reunion they know runs the risk of going terribly wrong.

As author, Harper Lee famously said: “You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family.” 

This is why I would hate to see office social events — and especially the annual Christmas party — become victims of the increasingly difficult and frightening times in which we are forced to live.

 

Low pay a turn-off for UK bureaucrats

LONDON (December 3): The United Kingdom union covering senior Public Servants says low and stagnant pay is pushing a large number of bureaucrats to eye alternative career paths.

The FDA union’s annual State of Pay in the Civil Service survey found that nearly one-third (31 per cent) of officials are actively looking for jobs outside the Public Service. Of these, 97 per cent said that pay was impacting their decision.

Across the total sample of 4,726 respondents, 64 per cent said they were not satisfied with their current pay, and 76 per cent said they believed the current pay system was “unfair and inequitable”. 

Public sector pay has been capped or frozen at various intervals since 2010. This year, the majority of Public Servants were given an average pay rise of 4.5-to-five per cent, plus a one-off payment of £1,500 ($A2,880) following months of strikes over low pay. Senior bureaucrats got an average 5.5 per cent rise.

The report stated that while this was a step in the right direction, it did not undo the years of pay restraint that had meant Public Servants’ median salaries at each grade had reduced in real terms by between 12 per cent and 23 per cent since 2010.

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New rules for Public Service ‘toppers’

NEW DELHI (December 4): All successful candidates in India’s Union Public Service Commission (USPC) examination will now have to terminate their relationships with coaching institutes upon joining the bureaucracy.

In a major change, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has barred candidates passing the examinations from enjoying round-the-year advertising revenue from institutes that coach them and use the advertisement to attract future students.

This will mainly affect those who are ranked first in the annual examination (known as toppers) who are widely reported and feted when the results are announced. Some have even given up their Public Service careers to work full time on giving advice to future aspirants.

The decision follows an inquiry by the CCPA which claimed some coaching institutes resorted to misleading and exaggerated claims constituting unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

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 More casualties in cash-for-jobs probe

NEW DELHI: The Indian State Government of Assam has suspended 21 officers, the latest casualties in a long-running investigation into a cash-for-job scam involving the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).

The suspended individuals include 11 Assam Police Service officers and four Assam Civil Service officers.

The scam was unearthed in 2016 when a doctor, Angshumita Gogoi, tipped off the police after she was promised a job though the APSC on payment of $A1,800.

This led to the arrest and conviction of then Chair of the APSC, Rakesh Kumar Paul and several others. Mr Paul was granted bail in March after spending six years in jail.

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Sanctions on non-voting officers denied

HONG KONG (December 6): Online claims that Hong Kong Government employees may be penalised for not taking part in the ‘patriots-only’ District Council elections were misinformation intended to sow discord in the Public Service, Chief Secretary for Administration, Eric Chan says.

He said individuals with “ulterior motives” were spreading false information online about potential penalties for Public Servants who did not cast a ballot in the restricted District Council race.

The official rejected the speculations at a Civil Service Family Day in support of the overhauled election organised by the Disciplined Services Consultative Council and the Police Force Council.

He said the online claims were attempts to undermine Hong Kong “and we must be cautious about this soft resistance.”  

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Officers face loss of medical cover

NAIROBI (December 7): Kenyan Public Servants are expected to lose their enhanced medical cover under the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

At least 73 public institutions that have been enjoying comprehensive medical cover offered by the NHIF have now been left hanging in the balance following the enactment of a new social health scheme.

Also affected are millions of retired public officers who have been relying on the scheme, as almost all private medical insurance schemes have an age limit on cover.

This follows an announcement by Chief Executive of the NHIF, Elijah Wachira that it will scrap the EduAfya, a scheme that has benefited millions of secondary school students.

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 New push to recruit disabled officers

PHNOM PENH (December 7): Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Manet says the Government will encourage people with disabilities to become Public Servants.

“In accordance with the Law on the Protection and Promotion of People with Disabilities, the Government will increase its support for the disabled in Cambodia,” Mr Hun Manet said.

“We will continue to provide opportunities for the disabled to become important Civil Servants to participate in society, and make their lives more inclusive.”

He said the Government had set quotas of up to two per cent for people with disabilities to work in Ministries and public institutions, as well as the private sector.”

 

 

  

Sideshows in a geopolitical game

The leaders of the United Kingdom and France have been doing the diplomatic rounds in what can only be seen as desperate attempts to shore up fading influence in a world dominated by United States-China rivalry.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was in Turkey signing a meaningless defence pact with its fellow member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). What he really wanted was to regain some traction in an area where it was once a major player.

What he got was a lecture from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the UK’s “provocative steps” by continuing to support Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“Western powers must remember the un-kept promises to Palestine and do what is necessary,” Erdogan is reported as saying.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron was off to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan where he hoped to shore up continuing supplies of uranium to fuel his country’s nuclear industry.

Traditionally, France has got must of the yellow cake from its former colony, Niger, but that is in doubt now an anti-French junta has come to power there.

He at least got a warm welcome, as both Central Asian countries are trying to loosen their traditional ties with Russia as its war with Ukraine drags on.

However, both Sunik and Macron are playing around the edges of a diplomatic game dominated by the US and China. Their initiatives are more for home consumption as both face declining polls and the rise of extremist forces on both the far left and right that put their political careers in question.

Geopolitical analyst Alexandros Itimoudis is even kind when he describes the visits as part of “an indirect competition between the two major powers of Europe” — a description that Germany, and even an emerging Poland, would want to question.