Sitting at the start of midnight mass yesterday, the choir struck up at the beginning with a highly discordant introductory piece. Such discordance has marked the day.

As I sat in church, several thousand miles further east, troops in Afghanistan were waking up to the start of their Christmas Day. They were also waking up to the news that yet another comrade had been lost to enemy fire. Terrible news for a family to face at this time of year. Comrades of the fallen will also have been shocked - perhaps to the extent of erecting wooden crosses as was done by the Marines a couple of weeks ago when three were killed. It is an interesting juxtaposition – the cross, sign of Christ’s death and Easter Symbol, erected in Afghanistan at precisely the time of year we celebrate Christ’s birth.

And on that day of sacrifice, it staggered me that the publicly-funded broadcaster Channel 4 should see fit to broadcast a satirical (?) Christmas Day message from President Ahmedinejad of Iran, lecturing us that if Christ had been alive today, he would have fought against global imperialism. This is the very man who is President of an intolerant theocracy which oppresses women, denies freedom of conscience and political expression to millions, and is happy to execute 16-year olds. Hardly the message of Christmas love.

Surely the time has come for Channel 4 to have to find commercial justification for this rubbish rather than rely on the taxpayer. Thousands of  brave troops are risking their lives in the war against the Taleban. Ahmedinejad is a useful reminder of what they are fighting against.