Happy Christmas Bank Holiday Monday!
Well, that's if you're in most of the Commonwealth or Europe. In America, it's just a regular ol' working day, and I'll be hard at it, nose to the grindstone, for a full hour of guest-host-level semi-competence on "Tucker Carlson Tonight". The fun starts at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific - with a rerun for West Coasters and late birds at midnight Eastern/9pm Pacific. Hope you'll dial us up if you are in the presence of the receiving apparatus.
As for the Yankee lack of what we quaintly called, pre-Covid, a "day off" or a "long weekend", my traditional take on the holiday without end can be found here - although I've since amended my view: after ten months of a locked-down world, we're in Narnia; ever winter but never Christmas.
~I'm not sure what will be on the agenda for tonight: It was a lively Yuletide in Nashville, with a Christmas Day bombing. The President, notwithstanding his blistering denunciation of the mega-swamp "Covid Relief Bill", has now signed it into law. He is planning one last rally in Georgia, in an effort to save the sorry hides of Senators Purdue and Loeffler: The latter is a point behind, the former is presently 0.1 per cent ahead (which means the dead will win it for the Dems).
Both senators are protesting the imprisonment in the Cayman Islands of a Georgia teenager for breaking the British colony's quarantine law. I don't myself see what's "conservative" about their position: The most basic tool available to any territory to control the spread of ChiCom-19 is restrictions upon non-citizens and non-residents.
Oh, and that new Covid that's seventy bazillion times as lethal? It's landed in North America, with the first two cases in Ontario. Is the new Super-Mega-Hyper-Gonorrhea arising from WuFlu antibiotics here yet? Why, yes, it is. The last time the Über-Clap was in the news was when the UK's Project Fear fearmongers warned it would afflict the land as a consequence of voting for Brexit.
So Boris has just concluded his post-Brexit deal with the EU ...and Coronarrhea shows up? Coincidence? Or just another example of Chairman Xi's attention to detail?
~We had a busy Christmas at SteynOnline, starting with a Song of the Week audio special, with Elisabeth von Trapp and Hanno Schilf joining me for live music and the story behind a Christmas Eve classic: "Silent Night." Also on Christmas Eve we concluded the last of this year's Yuletide Tales for Our Time - in this case a festive caper of my own inspired by a news item Tucker sprang on me one night, The Little Christmas Tree: You can find the opening episode here, Part Two here and the happy ending here. On Christmas Day I hosted this year's Covid-constrained Mark Steyn Christmas Show with caroling and conversation from Randy Bachman, Martha Stewart, Dana, Everything But the Girl, Siân Phillips and many more. On Boxing Day, we rounded up a bonanza of seasonal goodies, and took a look back at post-Christmas sales. Later I covered for Kathy Shaidle on the movie beat with an audio special on those we lost in 2020. Our Sunday song selection offered something musically analogous with a salute to 2020's fallen songwriters. If you were too busy getting arrested for inviting granny over for eggnog, we hope you'll want to check out one or three of the foregoing as a new week begins.
~If antifa porch pirates 'alf-inched all those presents you ordered from AmazonGlobalMonopoly.com, you can seriously mollify your loved one with a stateroom on the third annual Mark Steyn cruise (following our sold-out inaugural voyage two years ago, and our sold-out second voyage last year). And don't forget the present that lasts all year: A one-year gift membership in The Mark Steyn Club, including:
~Our above-mentioned audio adventures in Tales for Our Time: you won't want to miss our new one starting next week;
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with yours truly;
~Transcript and audio versions of The Mark Steyn Show, Mark's Mailbox, and other video content;
~My ongoing series of video poetry;
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world, should such events ever again be permitted;
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~The opportunity to join me and my guests on next year's third annual Mark Steyn Club Cruise, assuming we're ever allowed to sail;
~and the chance to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
See you on the telly for Tucker tonight.
