As annual school nativity play season gets under way, survey shows baby Jesus being edged out to make room for Elvis, spacemen, footballers and Lord Sugar. Christianity is being banished from school nativity plays as the annual performance of the Christmas story is replaced with bland ‘winter celebrations’, research among parents suggests. Even in schools which retain religious themes, most now opt for a modernised version of the nativity story, often featuring elaborate twists and children dressed as unlikely additions such as punk fairies, aliens, Elvis, lobsters, spacemen and even recycling bins. Examples cited in the survey conducted by Netmums, the parenting website, even included a retelling of the story modelled on The Apprentice. Others told of children dressed as ingredients in a Christmas lunch including carrots, sprouts and – confusingly – pumpkins. Meanwhile, one in eight had said their children’s school had dropped the Christmas story altogether for a modern alternative without religious references.

Roger Bolton writing in the Radio Times asks the question: ‘Do British schoolchildren know what Christmas is?’ In some schools in this country, little is taught about the true meaning of Christmas, possibly because secular staff are unsympathetic to religious education or because of the fear of offending those of other faiths and broadcasters aren’t doing much to remedy this ignorance. It is difficult to find any children’s programmes that regularly deal with faith issues. The Bible Society published a survey earlier this year that claimed that ‘a quarter of children indicated that they had never read, seen or heard of Noah’s Ark’, that a similar proportion had never heard of the nativity, that 43 per cent had never heard of the crucifixion and that 53 per cent had never read, seen or heard of Joseph and his coat of many colours. Does this matter? Roger Bolton says  ‘I think it does, for both cultural and communal reasons.’

Churches are among the few places in the UK that successfully bring people together from different ethnic backgrounds and from different financial circumstances, new research for the Social Integration Commission suggests. The commission appointed Ipsos Mori to carry out a study of the social habits of a cross-section of 400 people, aged from 13 to 80. Its survey suggested that attending a place of worship was the most ‘socially integrating’ activity that people could take part in - bringing together people from across the divides of age, income, and ethnicity. Churches attained twice the average score at bringing people together, far ahead of sporting events. Events such as parties, weddings and going to restaurants scored least well at bringing people from different groups together. Churches also led the way at bringing people of different social backgrounds together.

They were never asked for their consent – but symphysiotomy caused the Irish mothers subjected to it catastrophic long-term health problems. Symphysiotomy is a controversial operation that was seldom used in the rest of Europe after the mid-20th century, but was carried out on an estimated 1,500 Irish women, during childbirth, between the 1940s and 1980s. The procedure involves slicing through the cartilage and ligaments of a pelvic joint (or in extreme cases, called pubiotomy, sawing through the bone of the pelvis itself) to widen it and allow a baby to be delivered unobstructed.  In July, the UN Human Rights Committee called for the Irish government to hold an investigation into the issue. Mark Kelly of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties says. ‘This remains just one of the most appalling things that we have come across’.

British society must not shy away from its own beliefs or traditions such as saying ‘Happy Christmas’ instead of ‘Happy Holidays’, former Cabinet Minister Liam Fox has said. In an online video message, former Cabinet Minister Dr Fox said that Christmas is ‘a time of hope and renewal, a central part of our religious belief’. He explained that was why he wished everyone ‘a very happy and peaceful Christmas’, instead of ‘Happy Holidays’. He added, ‘because we tolerate and respect views different to our own, tradition, Christmas is a time of hope and renewal, a central part of our religious belief.’ Earlier this week a Christian Institute survey revealed that many of the UK’s local councils are abandoning the true meaning of Christmas in their Christmas cards.

One of Australia's largest retailers has banned controversial video game Grand Theft Auto 5 from its stores because of its graphic scenes of violence against women. GTA5, which was released a year ago and is the latest title in the smash-hit series, will no longer be sold in Target Australia's shops following customer anger over the levels of violence in the game. Players are given options to kill women by punching them unconscious, for killing with a machete, bat or guns. The game, which has been released on Playstation 3 and 4, and Xbox 360 and One, allows players to control a criminal in a fictional US city. Players can beat up or kill any other character they encounter in a variety of ways. Carrying an ‘18’ certificate in the UK, the game has come under fire for its depictions of torture and portrayal of strippers and prostitutes.

An alternative version of the popular ‘Monty the penguin’ advert by John Lewis has gone viral. St Thomas’ church in Norwich filmed their own version of the Monty story, which involves a penguin searching for ‘real love’. In the church production, a little boy dreams of real friendship with his toy tiger but his longing is only satisfied in the shadow of the cross. The video has already received over 20,000 views on YouTube and featured on the ITV news website. Beej Harris, who produced the church’s video, said its inspiration came from the misplaced Christmas message in the John Lewis advert. He said: ‘There was a lot of satisfaction in presents and toys, but we actually wanted to kind of take it back and say that Christmas is about so much more than that, the real meaning is about Christ’. Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK9GsOGVXBI#t=35

One in five high street stores has no disabled access, according to a government-backed audit of more than 30,000 businesses. A study by DisabledGo has shown that a third of department stores did not have an accessible toilet and only 15% of retailers had hearing loops for the partially deaf. Researchers visited and assessed 27,000 high street shops and 3,716 restaurants in an audit backed by the Department for Work and Pensions. Among other findings were that two in five food outlets had no accessible toilet, only 23% had menus in large print for the visually impaired and only 9% hearing loops. Just 57 eateries, 14% of the total, listed information on accessibility on their website. Lack of training for staff to help cater for disabled people was another shortcoming. Chairman Barry Stevenson said: ‘It's entirely unacceptable for disabled people, their family, friends and carers not to be able to access all high street shops and facilities.’

A Christian rape survivor is calling for jurors in sexual assault trials to be given more guidance about what constitutes rape. Jill Saward, who was attacked in 1986 at Ealing Vicarage, has started a petition urging the government to change the law so that a judge can outline that rape can happen to anyone and be committed by anyone. She said this should happen before a trial actually begins so that the jury is able to make an 'informed decision'. ‘Many people believe that they actually understand what rape is but a lot of that understanding comes from assumptions,’ she said. The petition, to the Justice Secretary, says: ‘Several recent high profile cases have evidenced how the general public has fixed preconceived ideas of what constitutes rape, a victim and a perpetrator of sexual violence. Given that juries are constituted of members of the public, these views are highly prejudicial.’

On the same day that a parliamentary report on hunger revealed that the number of people using food banks has risen to unprecedented levels, the House of Lords refused to share catering expenses with the Commons because they were worried about the quality of champagne! Apparently the peers rejected a plan to merge contracts over fears about the quality of their bubbly. While the Lords and MPs share IT, cleaning and archive services, reaching agreement on champagne purchasing was seen as a step too far. The House of Lords has a £1.3m annual catering budget and has bought in more than 17,000 bottles of champagne since 2010 the last election (that’s 5 bottles per peer at a cost of £265,770). Meanwhile thousands of working families are forced to depend on charity hand-outs this Christmas and organisers of festive hampers for low-income households say the numbers receiving help are higher than ever.