Child Shrink Loses the Plot over Christmas Coal

You know the country has gone mad when the top medical journal runs a serious article claiming that giving naughty children coal for Christmas could "damage their mental health and the environment".

It is a Christmas tradition for children to get presents and oranges in their stockings, while those who have been badly behaved have long been warned that they might end up with a lump of coal.

The tradition actually comes from European countries such as Austria and the Czech Republic, but in recent years it has been adopted by retailers who sell pretend lumps of coal with messages like 'you've been naughty'. The harmless jest has now, however, been criticised by leading paediatrician Dr Tamsin Holland Brown.

In the Christmas issue of The BMJ medical journal, she states: 'The suggestion that children on the naughty list only deserve coal is outdated and potentially harmful to the environment and children's health.' She says that because coal is a non-renewable fossil fuel, giving it to children means that 'the adults are being the naughty ones'.

Dr Holland Brown, from Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, says giving children coal will not improve their behaviour and 'could have a negative impact on mental wellbeing'.

As the #coalforchristmas hashtag has become popular on social media, the article points out that coal's impact on air quality can also be bad for children's health. 'It would be good for goodness' sake if coal was left in the ground', says the woke 'Doctor', who appears totally unaware that leaving coal (and oil and gas) in the ground will mean that large numbers of grandparents are going to freeze to death in coming winters.

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