Christmas dinner has been vastly over-complicated by the era of the television chef. Should you cook the classic turkey, with bacon rashers laid across its breast, as enshrined by Delia? Should you brine the bird beforehand, like Heston? Or should you try to impress the in-laws by attempting Hugh's humungous 10-bird roast? Nigel Slater and Rick Stein, who last night presented their "Simple" and "Spanish" Christmasses respectively, forwent turkey altogether. On Tuesday, the Hairy Bikers turned in a Christmas menu composed entirely of finger food. Nigella's seasonal series, repeated yesterday on BBC2, featured as its star dish a lamb and date tagine.

There are certain occasions in life that bring out the larger-than-life size fashion gesture in even the most sensible dresser.

Gosh, who would want to be a housebuilder just now?

The unpalatable truth about meat

Sir Dave Richards blamed for aggressive approach that rejects any notion of reform

Former Football Association chief Lord Triesman today accused Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards of using aggressive tactics to pressurise others in the game into blocking the FA's efforts to change.

Gorillaz will release a new album on 25 December. It's not as strange as it sounds – sales of music downloads and ebooks are turning Christmas Day into one of the busiest of the year, says Rachel Clare

Like Vaughan Williams – who collected all of the Trad folk songs here – Maddy Prior and her band care more about the spirituality and heritage of a good tune than any religious sentiment behind it.

Serves 4

"Charles Dickens" here means editor as well as author. This is the fifth Christmas number, from 1854, of his journal Household Words. Dickens himself tops and tails the festive story cycle, set after an archetypal Christmas Eve dinner ("I never saw a finer turkey, finer beef") in a Rochester almshouse.

Kurt Geiger, the upmarket shoe retailer, expects a "strong Christmas" after a surge in women buying designer shoes for parties recently delivered a rise in sales of 30 per cent.

MPs return to Westminster today and head straight into what could prove to be one of the defining battles of this Parliament. The first Commons debate will be on the Coalition Government's bill to stage a referendum on the Alternative Vote next May.

A wife who went to the shops to buy a turkey for Christmas dinner still hasn't made it home after being cut off by heavy snow.

Predictions for Britain's economic recovery may be muted, but the country's shoppers are out in force this Christmas. John Lewis has seen an unprecedented pre-Christmas boom, with department store sales topping £100m for a record three consecutive weeks. The chain logged £112m in sales last week alone, up 15.5 per cent on 2008 and up 11.4 per cent on 2007.