Each year I bring this up, each year it seems to dawn on me a little earlier than the last. Christmas is being dumped by so called do-gooders. My evidence, Christmas cards.... they are not Christmas cards at all, by which I mean, as well as having no Christian images, Nativity scenes etc, they don't even mention the "C" word. I'm afraid that "happy holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" simply will not do.

Have I gone mad, I know that I have strong and deep religious beliefs but is it time to tie and gag this cracker. No, this is neither a matter of my religious beliefs which I hope are strong, My protest is about resisting those who seem hell bent on turning Christianity into a crime.

In the United States and around the world, this time of year is a Christian festival — as it should be. It is part of our heritage. You don't have to be a fire-and-brimstone evangelist to respect a faith that still underpins traditional American values and institutions, even though much of its spiritual message was lost long ago in a fog of consumerism. My rant on Christmas-less cards is my tiny, almost certainly futile, gesture against the dark forces of political correctness. It's a swipe at those who would prefer to abolish Christmas altogether, in case it offends "minorities".

None of the Christmas-less cards that I have received came from a PC nutter. A few were from good friends and business acquaintances. Most are new to me as I have only recently been elected to public office.

It's sad, but I suppose we have become used to ghastly councilors, such as those in Birmingham, England, trying to rebrand Christmas in favor of something more multi-cultural, even pagan, e.g., Winterval. It should come as no surprise that third-rate minds produce only third-rate ideas.

But what I found so shocking this week was a survey from a law firm, revealing that three out of four employers have banned conventional Christmas decorations, lest they offend employees of other faiths. Bosses, the report said, are worried that they could be........ wait for it.............. sued if they were to allow displays of Christian joy, but not those of other religions. Can they be serious? If that were not bad enough, the health-and-safety stormtroopers are parking their tanks on our tinsel. Santa's sleighs need seat-belts, and mince pies must be "risk-assessed" before being handed out to children.

The Royal Bank of Scotland has told workers not to put decorations near computers, as they could be a fire hazard, or risk injury by standing on desks to hang up holly. What is the matter with these people?

The paradox of the dreadful campaign to create a culture of resentment against conventional Christmases is that it's being led neither by ethnic minorities nor leaders from other religions. Quite the reverse. Many non-Christians seem genuinely baffled by our desire for self-abasement. Every year, I receive a Christmas card from the owner of my local Bull Market. He's a Muslim from Bangladesh. If I told him that we were banning Christmas, he'd be horrified. It's his busiest period. Muslims are not offended by Christmas, not even in Islamic countries. A friend of mine, Jeff Randall, (who prompted me to write this) from London, some eight years ago, spent Christmas in Dubai. There the hotel went out of its way to find a Christian clergyman (he was a Greek Orthodox priest) to perform a service for he and his family on December 25.

No, it's not the Muslims, Jews or Hindus who are behind the drive to secularize Christmas. They are not the culprits. The presence of a small cross round the neck of a South West Air check-in staff member does not prompt them to scream in protest, vomit in the aisle or rush for a transfer to another carrier. On the whole, they couldn't care less. The demons in this horror story of crucifying Christmas are white, middle-class do-gooders whose assumption of a superior morality is as disgraceful as it is disgusting. They are busybodies, obsessed with forcing on us their vacuous "ethical" code. In the view of Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, they are "the chattering classes", who see themselves as holding a flag for an atheist world. Actually, they are more pernicious than that. The teachings and guidance of old-fashioned Christianity offend them, so they seek to remove all traces of it from public life.

Christian voluntary groups are harassed on the grounds that being a Christian excludes "diversity". Christian Unions at universities are suspended because they insist that their members have Christian beliefs, which is interpreted as opposition to gay sex.

In an increasingly godless age, there is a rising tide of hatred against those who adhere to biblical values. It is not yet illegal to be a Christian, but woe betide those who hold fast to a standard of behavior that was once the moral norm. A contributor to my site asked "will those who are offended by Christmas also be offended by taking paid leave on Christmas Day?"

It wasn't meant to be like this. Somewhere along the line, a loose federation of diversity champions, equality campaigners and human-rights activists has well as a President who felt my pain has metamorphosed into a tyrannical minority for whom Christmas is an abomination. Its demands for freedom have become an all-out assault on those Protestants and Roman Catholics who deplore "the permissive society".

So what to do. We could send the cards back...........

'Extreme' jobs on the rise - Eleven hours a day, seven days a week, Cynthia McKay maintains a clockwork schedule. From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., she is in her office as CEO of LeGourmet Gift Basket in Castle Rock, Colo. That adds up to a 77-hour workweek, not counting her time at home on 24-hour call for clients around the world.

But don't feel sorry for Ms. McKay. Her long hours are "absolutely my choice," she says, adding, "I love being at work. It becomes a lifestyle as opposed to a job."

May God Bless and  Keep You This Day Till Tomorrow