We wish you a merry business . . .

IF there’s one thing as inevitable as the premature arrival of Christmas in the shops, it’s the blizzard of newspaper columns complaining about it.

I have been a tiny snowflake in that blizzard in the past and the wind is still blowing in that general direction. But from my position here in the jet stream I can see that there is more to moan about.

I have been told by people who think The Apprentice is a good thing that it’s perfectly acceptable – indeed is in the country’s best interests – for businesses to try to make as much money from Christmas (and Easter and Halloween and Mother’s Day) as possible.

So if they think it suits their business needs to put tinsel up in July, then we should be happy to go along with it.

Now, despite appearances, I am not a bumpkin. I know that money makes the world go round, that commerce is vital to civilisation and that without prosperity none of the culture and leisure which make life worth living – no, not even even Bake Off – would be possible.

But does that really mean that when any of the great commercial giants of our era – ohh, I don’t know,

There is more to life than work, telly, politics, football . . .

let’s say Sir Philip Green – demands that we jump we should meekly ask how high?

Are we not entitled to point out that despite its undeniable usefulness, there is more to life than money? Just as there is more to life than work, telly, football, politics, food, gardening, cycling or any one single thing?

At the risk of sounding like a mystic from the Far East, surely a bit of balance is the thing, the old yin and yang? Or at the risk of sounding like your granny, everything in moderation?

If we let business become the be all and end all, then we might as well become the USA, and I don’t think any of us really wants that.

Don’t our cultural and leisure pursuits become meaningless when they are simply turned into yet another reason to buy stuff?

Some people tell me that business is not everyday life and shouldn’t be judged by the same standards – ie there are things you have to do in business that you wouldn’t do in your private life.

In which case, what right does business have to dictate how – and when – we should live our private lives?