I know it's a somewhat limited demographic, but if you've had a prefrontal lobotomy during the past few weeks, finding appropriate Christmas TV fare can be a challenge. You want something light, so as not to distract you from the absorbing task of managing your drool. Well, RTE has just the programme for you--Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels. Responding to a huge upswell of indifference among the Irish public, the programme "returns this year for the New Year's Eve party to end all parties with seven willing celebrities box-stepping and jigging their way to midnight all in the name of charity."

Yes, it might be mindless garbage, but it's for charity--which means all involved don't really have to make an effort to be any good.

On the other hand, if you have more than basic brain-stem function, I recommend for your holiday delectation the following elevating material:

James Meek explains how to boost your scrabble score; Caleb Crain discusses the implications of the decline of reading; Malcolm Gladwell tells us why IQ tests tell us more about the society that sets them than the people who take them.


And to end the post on a festive note, here's another Malcolm, Malcolm Middleton with, for me, the Christmas song of 2007: We're All Going to Die: