My problem with Christmas is that it is all ‘give, give, give.’ Whatever happened to ‘take, take, take’? Taking is a far more natural quality in the human being than giving, but somehow or other it has picked up a bad name, especially at this time of the year when we are all expected to summon up the fantasy that we actually like people whom we really loathe and that we should give them things, when we would rather take something from them.