Kiss me slow – and often - for
Christmas

AS THE nation cowers under a blanket of financial misery, facing what all the pundits predict to be the worst Christmas in a decade, herewith some good news for the young and the young in heart: Britain is facing a bumper mistletoe harvest!

Although hundreds of firms are said to be cancelling their Christmas parties because of the credit crunch, mistletoe is likely to be cheap this year – which means that workers will be able to smuggle it into the office or workshop and steal a kiss from a fancied colleague.

According to tradition, when a man embraces a woman under a twig of mistletoe, he is supposed to pinch off a berry for every kiss. When the berries are all gone, the kissing is supposed to stop - but as berries are in abundance this year, there should be plenty of time for romance.

Growers are not quite sure why the crop has been so good this year but most are putting it down to climate change and milder winters. So global warming has a silver lining too!