It’s the season of good will to all men, roughly translated as major family time that you’re not getting out of. Time to sit around the fire, playing board games and have deep and meaningful conversations about everything that’s happened over the last twelve months, precisely the last time when Trivial Pursuit came out of the cupboard. Some people love Christmas, some people hate it, so we thought we’d look at some places to escape or embrace those Christmas traditions, and whether now is the time to take a little break to somewhere infinitely more exciting.

As Tony Wheeler, the co-founder of the phenomenally successful “Lonely Planet” series argues, as students, this is the most exciting time in your life to travel: “I still like that idea of [being] young, going off on a first trip, changing your mind forever. That’s still something that really appeals to me. Young people are in many ways pioneers, they’re doing things that later on would be too uncomfortable for them”.

Convincing enough, but most people spend their time and money travelling over the twelve weeks of the Summer vac. So is there any case for going away at Christmas, when prices and gimmicks are hiked up to the max? I asked Tony about the pros and cons of visiting places at peak times: “I think there’s very good reasons why there are peak times. But in some places, it’s so overpowered, so if you can, find things that are just a little bit off peak. You go to France in August, and every Frenchman is on holiday, you can’t find a place on the beach. But you go just one month away from it and suddenly the crowds have disappeared.” It’s true that avoiding “wall-to-wall crowds” is probably a positive thing, but the advantages of long university holidays, starting well before the school holidays break up, mean that we can just about avoid the absolute peak time, as well as getting all the perks of the winter season. After all, there’s no substitute for the sparkly lights and Christmas trees in Brussels or Paris.

When I contacted the STA travel press office, they were more than happy to ream off a number of festive destinations with all the promises of crisp snow and warm food: “Scotland is amazing at Christmas as it’s cold, crisp and often snow covered. Paris is indulgent and luxurious – freezing cold in the winter – and perfect for feasting and winter festivities. And Amsterdam, being one of the party capitals of Europe, is the ideal place to spend New Year.” Add to that their special discounts for students, package deals and off-peak rates, and that traditional Christmas abroad is looking all the more enticing.
So it’s possible to do this holiday perhaps cheaper than originally expected. A further few clicks on the Internet, and I’ve found, surely the ultimate Christmas location: the Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi, Lapland. I’m reliably informed of it’s history by the website, which says that “about a hundred years ago, a passer-by started spreading the word about Ear Mountain and the existence of its inhabitants. Santa wanted to safeguard the tranquillity of his secret hiding place and came up with a superb idea that also allowed him to meet people who love Christmas and his many friends who come to greet him.” Wasn’t that clever of Santa? I don’t think its me being overly cynical to suggest that perhaps this isn’t entirely true. It’s not that I don’t want to believe it, it was a very sad day indeed when my Mum told me Father Christmas didn’t exist. But can you escape the fact that most Christmas activities are just put on for tourists?

Wheeler’s view on this is clear and pragmatic: “Look, they are put on for tourists. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.” Enjoyment should be the most important criteria, and those traditional destinations are often the very best for that warm festive feeling, “go somewhere like New York, and Christmas is one of the best times of year. The place feels like Christmas, there’s unusual snowfall as well, which is even better”.

Yet the man himself, Wheeler not Santa, likes to spend his Christmasses in Australia, where his family are very much of the view that “Christmas should be summer”: “it’s entirely different what people expect. When do you go skiing? You go skiing in August? That’s the time you go skiing! But I like it either way, I’m very happy with Christmas being in the middle of summer, but I’m equally happy if I flip it around sometimes, and have a winter Christmas.”

But there’s a good reason to be somewhere entirely different for the 25th Decemeber. Whether coming from a tradition of sand or snow, Christmas is always an illuminating time to be elsewhere from the familiar according to Wheeler: “I rather like being in weird and wonderful places at strange times. I’ve had Christmas in Burma once, which was very strange, I had Christmas in Khat Man Du once, and it still is a little bit Christmassy. The mountains are covered in snow, it’s cold and chilly. Quite a few places try to put on something for the tourists there. Khat Man Du was a good place at Christmas.”

It’s interesting talking to the founder of the most successful guidebook series about peak and off-peak, popular and unusual destinations, as he’s probably personally contributed considerably to many of them being so. If a restaurant is mentioned in a Lonely Planet guidebook, it will be swamped with visitors, flouncing the competition through the sole merit of being printed within that hallowed blue cover.

Wheeler admits this is “a concern, no question. One of the things we’ve learnt over the years is to be cautious about places where we have too much influence. If we do a book about New York, London, Sydney or Paris, if we say “this restaurant is really good”, or “this restaurant is really bad”, its a factor, but it’s not an overwhelming factor. But there are some places in the world, where we have a disproportionate influence. You go to Vietnam, and the majority of people are going to be using our Vietnam guide, so we have to be really cautious of how we treat places there, because you can make or you can break places. We’ve learnt over the years to use our influence carefully, when it needs to be used carefully.”

But although these writers have a great deal of influence, the nature of their influence is changing thanks to the Internet. I asked Wheeler about how he thought online forums were changing the nature of the guidebook: “I think these days people are looking for information in all sorts of different ways. Print isn’t dying, print is as popular as ever, it’s just that it’s not always on paper. We’re reading more than we ever did. We’re having to send our writers out to research things, not really knowing how it’s going to end up. They’re researching things which may end up on the website, may end up on an iPhone or iPad or in a book.”

The Internet and technology has functioned to raise our expectations of information, “What we’re seeing at the moment is with the latest digital phones and smart phones you can do so much more. You have that advantage of things you can do digitally which you can’t do with a guidebook. We used to send the writers out and say “get us a good restaurant”. Then we had to say, “here’s a good restaurant, and here’s the website for it”, now we have to say “what’s the latitude and longitudes of it, pinpoint the position of it.” That’s becoming what you have to do these days.”

So Tony Wheeler and the Lonely Planet attempt to raise the standard of travel around the globe, whatever the time of year. But, crucially, and perhaps surprisingly, there is very little pretension surrounding him. I’m sure I’m not the only person to have met a snotty Lonely Planet carrier who’s out to find “the real, local experience”, but this is not Tony himself: “If it’s authentic, and you want that element about it, then that’s great. But I’m not particularly worried about authenticity”.
And this is our ultimate point. Christmas is so marketable, it’s not going to be ignored by half-savvy businessmen. But that doesn’t mean we should dismiss it either. “I’ve been to lots of places which have no interest in Christmas, it’s not one of their holidays at all, and with tourists there, they’ll do something for Christmas with that. It’s more fun being there at the time of a local holiday, and jumping into that, doing something you haven’t experienced before, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with our holidays as well.”

‘In simple terms I can see, hear and speak with people in the spirit world, as well as read people’s past and predict their futures. It still amazes me when I say it out loud!’ As self-professed ‘Britain’s best-loved psychic’, Sally Morgan holds herself with a confidence and self-belief that barely betrays a career of more than twenty years facing down sceptics and cynics of her ‘gift’. It’s only in the last 4 years her career has expanded stratospherically with TV programmes Sally Morgan: Star Psychic and Psychic Sally: On the Road, two books and a third on the way in 2011, a nationwide tour and even a documentary about her recent gastric band operation.

Today Sally has joined the steadily-growing ranks of TV psychics trying to satisfy the nation’s hunger for the paranormal and supernatural. Having done readings for the cream of ITV2’s Z-list and reality TV stars (Brian Dowling, Kym Marsh, Danny Dyer…), I have to admit I was a little shocked when she revealed her most distinguished client to have been Princess Diana.

‘I was her psychic for over four years but our relationship was strictly professional. I remember one Boxing Day whilst having a big family dinner the phone rang. I answered it and was amazed to hear Diana on the end of the line, apologising for disturbing me and my family, obviously I told her it was no problem. It was such a hilarious moment as my mum was doing the typical, “I mean who phones on Boxing Day…who is it?…who is it?!” and I was trying to mime to her, whilst listening intently, “It’s the princess, the Princess of Wales”. I think that is the only time I have broken off from a roast turkey! She was a remarkable woman whom I highly respected; I am honoured to have known her.’

Perhaps it’s the earnestness and honesty in Sally’s words that have earned her that coveted title of ‘Britain’s best-loved psychic’ and the trust of the ‘people’s princess’, but I’d be more inclined to say it’s that she seems a lot less mad than some of the other psychics on the scene. There’s a big difference, she notes, between the genuine ones and the ones who know how to work an audience.

‘For me it is about validation. If they make a connection with you, if they give you information about your life that they could not have known, if they give you validation that they are indeed speaking to a relative or loved one in spirit then you have to just trust your instinct.’ I’m a little wary myself of Sally’s ‘gift’. I am a card-carrying cynic and hardly the first to ask Sally about the ethics of making money out of the gullible who are simply searching for reassurance and the last chance to say goodbye to a loved one.

Her technique is described by sceptics as ‘cold reading’, a term used (mainly pejoratively) for the throwing out of common words, names and images to be seized upon by a (usually already believing) sitter and made to ‘fit’ their life. Inevitably her controversial career choice has led to her being brandished by cynics as a phony and a fake, playing on the emotions of the grieving and the desperate. Indeed her £1.50 a minute ‘live psychic readings’ with hand-picked clairvoyants and her equally priced ‘psychic texts’ seem only to be fuelling the fire for her cynics.

Nevertheless, Sally is quick to justify the price she slaps on her gift: ‘From seeing me on TV, you may think that my life looks glamorous, but I still have bills to pay and mouths to feed like the next person. I would be unable to dedicate so much of my life to sharing my gift if I was unable to survive. I am genuine and it is people’s prerogative whether they want to spend their money to come and see me. The way I see it there is no difference to paying to get your hair done, or buying a new pair of shows; if it makes you feel better about yourself then it is an investment.’

I’m stunned for a moment by the forthrightness with which Sally talks about her ‘career’, for Sally has managed to turn a gift that she discovered at the age of 4 into a lucrative and ever-expanding business. ‘The first “experience” I remember clearly was when I was four years old. I was at nursery and I asked my teacher why my granddad couldn’t be with me. My teacher told me that no-one was allowed their granddad in the class with them and then I pointed at a girl in my class and asked why she was allowed. I could see as clear as day an old man dressed in a full length coat stood next to this girl.

‘The teacher asked me where this man was and so I went right up to him and pointed. The man smiled at me and then just disappeared. No one else in the room saw him.’ Nowadays, it still seems like Sally is trying to get her head around the idea of contacting spirits, ‘as bizarre as it sounds it is like putting a plug in a socket! Just before I go on stage I allow myself to open up to spirit world and suddenly I connect. When I am on stage there are many ways in which people in spirit present themselves to me; sometimes I can just hear them, other times I can see them and occasional my body will act out their characteristics. Messages can often be difficult to pick up and I almost have to sieve through what I am hearing until I can make a strong link. A good way to describe it is to imagine playing ten different radio stations at the same time and trying to just focus on one of them – it’s not easy and requires a lot of concentration and trust. I trust what is being said to me and never interpret.’

Surely she must have a considerable responsibility when channelling the information she receives? ‘I don’t believe that I have the right to edit the information I receive and therefore I generally speak as I hear. There have been a few times over the years where a reading has been particular distressing for me and the person in the audience.’

Sally, with her disarmingly warm personality, genuinely seems like she wants to help people. ‘Even now at the age of 59 and having years of experience I find my gift incredible; I don’t think I will ever fully understand how I can do what I do. Forming a connection between a person and their loved one in spirit is magical. Being able to make that bond with spirit and giving validation to the individual in front fills me with so much joy. I have helped and comforted thousands of people over the years and for that I am forever grateful.’ It’s difficult not to be impressed by her sincerity.

She’s a wily businesswoman, for sure, and she hasn’t missed a trick in charging for the insight of one of her readings, but there’s something very genuine about Sally’s desire to comfort people. I’m not quite as convinced as Sally about the authenticity of her business however; ‘mediumship has gained approval and acceptance in the last decade,’ she insists. Surely she’s got a lot of work on her hands if she’s going to convince the whole world she’s the real deal, hasn’t she? ‘I’m getting a bit fed up with qualifying what I do and so instead of trying to prove my ability I simply ask the sceptics to prove to me that there is no afterlife; prove that I am in-fact mad! I’m still an ordinary person, a wife, mother and grandmother. To be honest I just want to share my experiences of the spirit world and show people that although my gift is bizarre it is amazing too.’

Sally is currently touring the country until November 2011. For dates and venues, check her website: www.sallymorgan.tv

This year had its fair share of high-profile comebacks. Some of them latched on to the spirit of innovation that we describe in our editorial above, and some of them didn’t.

Sade, the ageing ice queen of British soul, knocked out the platinum-certified and all-round nice Soldier Of Love, while Phil Collins played his decent cards all too safely with the aptly titled Going Back, a geriatric collection of Motown covers.

Others came back on the radar through different channels. The Rolling Stones made a big fuss out of the re-release of 1972’s Exile On Main St., which became the first album to return to No. 1 after its initial release. And last week, The Beatles’ catalogue finally became available on the iTunes store, following the resolution of the three-way legal dispute between Apple (the electronics company), Apple (the record label), and an apple. The immediate chart success of the band’s downloads will prompt bands like AC/DC – who refuse to upload their music to the iTunes store on ideological grounds – to reconsider their position.

But among the year’s returning stars, three shone particularly brightly. Brian Eno gave us a fairly traditional refraction of the Warp Records sound with Small Craft On A Milk Sea, which nevertheless sounds fresh. As Eno himself has pointed out, the album comes across like a soundtrack without a movie, and it got me yearning for a full new Eno score (his last was for the 1980 arthouse documentary Egon Schiele Exzess und Bestrafung).

Elsewhere, Gil Scott-Heron came out of nowhere (or, more specifically, prison) to make the best album of his career, I’m New Here. The album is at once a fair retrospective of the artist’s troubled career (the lyrical content is overwhelmingly autobiographical) and a startling artistic reinvention: thanks to XL Recordings owner Richard Russell’s minimal production, Scott-Heron sounds as if he’s jamming with Massive Attack.

The seasoned trip-hoppers themselves released Heligoland, their first album in seven years, which served as a timely reminder of where dubstep’s moody production comes from. However, it also outlined the limitations of the trip-hop genre: the ominous urban sound that Massive Attack perfected on 1998’s Mezzanine has been subjected to the law of diminishing returns, and now sounds tired. Is trip-hop dead?
Yet for all this, great comebacks are not as common as great debuts, and this year was no exception. Why? Is it because comebacks tend to be motivated by easy profit-seeking rather than creative impulse? Perhaps because we expect more of established veterans than of unknowns? Or do musicians simply get worse as they age?

These are the kinds of questions that could prompt dozens of half-baked Cherwell articles, and I’m wary of answering them here.

Instead, I’ll celebrate 2010 as a fine year for comebacks, and express my hope that the good old times with the old timers continue into 2011: word has it that System Of A Down, Marilyn Manson and The Monkees are among those planning their return. Promising.