WINTERVAL WONDERLAND

19-12-2006

The Birmingham councillor who placed an £1100 Christmas greeting in yesterday's Independent has been telling The Stirrer that his aim was to bury the city's reputation as the place that gave the world “Winterval.”

As we've already reported on this site, Alan Rudge - Cabinet Member For Equalities And Resources - had previously paid a similar sum for adverts in the same paper markingboth the Hindu festival of Diwali, and Eid which is celebrated by Muslims.

These passed without comment, but he's attracted national criticism for his latest message that embracedBirmingham's wide variety of faiths but which underlined the Christian nature of Christmas.

He explained that in the British consciousness,we arestill known as the city that tried scrapping Christmas and replacing it with Winterval.

“That was eight years ago,” he said. “We're trying to say that's long since gone. We celebrate Christmas and we're pleased to celebrate Christmas, and other groups like Sikhs and Muslims tell us they want to enjoy it too.

“In a recent poll 84% of people said they believed in celebrating the birth of Christ and we're long since past the political correctness of the Winterval years.

“The three adverts together show that we recognise faith as a useful building block for communities and our cities.”

(See our earlier story here).

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