This Christmas tree at Newcastle Airport leans to an even greater degree in real life than appears to be the case in this photo…! But it made me smile with amusement, and I guess Christmas trees are, after all, supposed to make people smile!

I went with my sister and nephews to see some reindeer at a garden centre today… not a typical Saturday morning, but it is Christmas, and I think we all had fun!

I received the paper copy of the Christmas BMJ today featuring the article I wrote with Dr Jean Adams and Prof Martin White spread over three pages…! I’d assumed they’d pack it in to a single page, so it was quite a surprise to see it spread out!

I think I’ve talked more about this paper in a single week than I have about any piece of work I’ve ever previously done…! You can hear me talking about it on this week’s Pod Delusion, or you can listen to some of the radio interviews I did below.

It’s all been a very exciting week for me, having never published a paper in a peer-reviewed journal before, and having done very little media work before… though I’m now very well ready for a rest! And I’m sure that applies even more to Jean and Martin, who did far more interviews than me – and far more challenging interviews than mine! I definitely got away quite lightly…!

Alfie and Charlie on BBC Newcastle, 18th December 2012
[audio:http://sjhoward.co.uk/audio/bmj/newcastle.mp3]

Mike Parr on BBC Tees, 18th December 2012
[audio:http://sjhoward.co.uk/audio/bmj/tees.mp3]

Julia Hartley-Brewer on LBC 97.3, 18th December 2012
[audio:http://sjhoward.co.uk/audio/bmj/london.mp3]

Simon Hoban on BBC Radio Merseyside, 18th December 2012
[audio:http://sjhoward.co.uk/audio/bmj/merseyside.mp3]

Ian Timms on BBC Radio Cumbria, 19th December 2012
[audio:http://sjhoward.co.uk/audio/bmj/cumbria.mp3]

I’m struggling to think of a photo for today… so here’s a bottle of Synergi, the contact lens solution that both Wendy and I use. I’ve no idea of the relative merits of solutions or whether using something like this is the ophthalmic equivalent of wasting money by buying branded paracetamol… I’m really totally clueless!

After spending yesterday lecturing the nation of the importance of a balanced diet, today was my work Christmas lunch at Colman’s Fish & Chips in South Shields – a restaurant apparently frequented by David Miliband. We had a great time – and I say that as someone who doesn’t even like fish!

This is one of my radios. I’ve spent a while “inside” it today doing interviews with BBC Tees, Newcastle and Merseyside, Real Radio and LBC today. It was my first radio interviewee experience, and I was talking about the paper I wrote with Jean Adams and Martin White of Fuse (they also did several times more interviews than I did!)

I think my interviews went okay, and I’d definitely be less nervous about doing them in future… which is lucky, as I’ve more lined up tomorrow!

I was just thinking to myself that there should be a rule that when this is the view from your office window, you’re allowed to go home. How did I ever manage nights?

Since I’m a photo behind and need to make up the numbers, and since I’m on a roll of Christmas-retail themed moans…

How insulting is this Argos campaign?! In the spirit of equality, I look forward to next year’s “Keep Calm Women” follow-up. I assume it will perpetuate a ditzy, dim, over-excitable, self-obsessed stereotype of women that’s as insulting as the lazy, dunderheaded, disorganised, misogynist stereotype of men perpetuated this year by retailers like Argos and Asda.

But I like to think that they will see sense and reflect the reality of 21st century life in the UK. After all, isn’t this the season of hope?

It seems that WHSmith have started their Easter campaign. Depressing, isn’t it? And I would (perhaps naively) have thought that reminding consumers of another retail-driven spending spree around the corner would depress Christmas spending.

But with a mere 106 days left for customers to get their hands on some themed chocolate, who can blame them for trying?

I’ve complained about Tesco piling up alcohol at the entrance before, as it really doesn’t strike me as responsible marketing. But today, the display was the biggest I’ve seen. I struggled to take a photo – as you can see – that captured the amount of alcohol there was on offer.

It’s interesting that Asda agreed in 2011 to stop this kind of thing, and Morrisons has started putting fruit and veg offers at the front of their stores, yet Tesco still persists with an attitude of pile-them-remarkably-high and sell-them-remarkably-cheap when it comes to alcohol.