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The "Happy Holidays" phenomenon is an extra-ordinary one from a British perspective.

Here in the UK we have wandered around blithely wishing the world and his wife "Merry Christmas" since about 600AD (or should that be "CE"?) when St Augustine popped over from Rome, landing in Thanet in the English county of Kent in 596AD and told us all the good news. Anglo-Saxon polytheism gradually fell out of favour (though we are still hanging the mistletoe over our doorways!)and suddenly baptism was trendy and Bernard Matthew's frozen turkey dinners only the invention of electricity and a lifestyle choice away.

With a significant number of American TV shows making their way across the pond however, few Brits can be unaware of the American sensitivity to the unfettered celebration of a Christian festival in a multi-faith society. The cast of "Friends", "Will and Grace" and the other shows we get all wander around in those ubiquitous Christmas episodes wishing each other a politically correct "Happy Holidays". Even as I write the words I hear them said in my head in a New York accent. Britain is of course extremely multi-faceted in terms of culture, race and religion, as the Muslim British inmates of Guantanamo Bay will testify, but we have never had the same cultural need to downplay Christmas. The opposite is true here - without the leveling influence of Thanksgiving in November, preparations for Christmas in commercial terms can start as early as the end of September and one great British pastime is complaining about ridiculously early Christmas displays in shops.

In terms of sensitivity to other religions we do it, not by homogenising a Christian festival, but by celebrating the full range of religious festivals to which the citizens of Britain adhere. So in many city centres there are lights in the street for Divali, more then for Hannukah and then the Christmas ones. As you might know, curry has been a central part of British culture for a long time. When the Muslim owners of curry houses are celebrating Eid ul Fitr the Christian customers enjoy the party atmosphere, don't in many cases really understand what they are being wished when someone says "Eid Mubarak" but enjoy it all none the less. We have had our share or race riots in the past, racial tensions exists and 9/11 and subsequent terrorist activities have done nothing to improve relationships between the extremist Muslim elements in Britain and the rest of the country, but we have never had a cultural problem

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