i Editor's Letter: Help us raise money for charity at Christmas

Gentle reader, if I’m going to prostitute myself for charity then I may as well do so with conviction. You have until 2pm today to bid for lunch with yours truly at London’s Ivy restaurant, and a chance to tell me what you think of i, or anything else.

If that prospect fills you with horror, then what about the other lots? A lecture for a dozen of you with our legendary foreign correspondent Robert Fisk on “Islam and the West”, golf in a four with the editor of The Independent, Chris Blackhurst, at Wentworth no less; a match at Old Trafford and a signed Man Utd shirt; a day at Lord’s including a tour from Angus Fraser; a West End weekend at Le Meridien in Piccadilly; a day at the paper; lunch at Westminster with Andrew Grice and many more.

If you can’t afford to bid, you may prefer to just donate to our joint appeal with Unicef on behalf of child soldiers.

Having mined your generosity, I would like to give generous thanks back. Although many here will be at work next week, your minds may be preoccupied with festive matters. And then, of course, there is the possibility that the Mayans are correct, and the world really will end tomorrow. So, with a reminder that (subject to the above) there will be an i every day over the Christmas period bar Christmas Day itself (tell your friends and family), I would like to thank all of you for your incredible, almost evangelical, support this year in helping to make i Britain’s only growing newspaper. We absolutely do not take it for granted, and pledge to keep listening to you next year. See you tomorrow. If there is one!