Christmas Card: Religious Theme (Hansard, 25 January 1989)

§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Aberdare)
My Lords, responsibility for selecting the House of Lords Christmas card rests with the Sub-Committee on Works of Art. I understand that the sub-committee will meet for that purpose in the next few months and I have no doubt that it will bear in mind the point made in the noble Lord's Question. I understand that it has been the general policy of the sub-committee to select a single picture card with a House of Lords or at least a parliamentary theme, very often a work of art from within the Palace of Westminster.

§ Lord Mottistone
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Does he agree—I hope the Sub-Committee on Works of Art will also agree—that it would be very nice to have a card 700 which was relevant to Christmas and which celebrated the Christian occasion rather than simply a good work of art picture which means nothing?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, I am sure that the subcommittee will take note of the noble Lord's remarks. It is difficult to reconcile having a card that is specifically a part of the House of Lords and relevant to it with one that has a Christian religious connotation. There was once a card with a picture of the angel in the Crypt; and on one occasion there was a picture of the seven bishops being found not guilty. I shall certainly draw the matter to the attention of the sub-committee.

§ Lord John-Mackie
My Lords, would it not be a Christian act to sell the cards for a charity or charities as many other bodies do?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, I do not quite understand how we would do that. These are cards of the House of Lords, available for its Members to send on its behalf.

The Lord Bishop of Truro
My Lords, on behalf of this Bench I am sure that I can welcome the first Answer to the Question. However, will the noble Lord bear in mind that the Christian message is based on the Christmas story, as are the works of art which depict that story? It issues in the great Christian themes which all religions and none wish to promote in the country. They are the great themes of the dignity of human beings, hope, love, good will and peace. I should have thought that the noble Lord and the sub-committee might bear those themes in mind in considering the message that is printed inside the card as well as the picture on the front.

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, that seems a sensible suggestion. I am quite sure that it will be taken into account by the sub-committee when it makes its next decision.

The Earl of Halsbury
My Lords, it may interest the noble Lord to know that my Christmas budget provides for 75 Christmas cards, 50 secular, which I buy here, and 25 religious cards, which I have to purchase elsewhere. If I am at all representative in the House, the effect of having a religious Christmas card would be to increase the turnover by 50 per cent.

§ Lord Aberdare
That would be very welcome, my Lords.

§ Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone
My Lords, will my noble friend take into consideration the fact that some of us—I include myself—rather like the chaste design of the portcullis in preference to anything else?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, I am sure that that will continue to be available. As the noble and learned Lord knows, it is a smaller and less expensive card and one that is very suitable for airmail postage.

Lord Paget of Northampton
My Lords, is not the noble Lord aware that the story of the rising sun is vastly older than Christianity and that it is getting on very well without any Christian assistance?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, I do not think that I can answer that question.

§ Lord Nugent of Guildford
My Lords, I think I speak for a good many Peers. Is my noble friend aware that the design and choice of the average picture Christmas card with which he provides us are very much to my liking and that I send the card out to about 300 friends every year? It is much enjoyed by my friends and he could not do better than his arts committee is now doing.

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, I am sure that the chairman of the sub-committee and its members will be very grateful to the noble Lord.

§ Lord Gibson
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the Works of Art Sub-Commmittee always looks with the greatest care and constructively at any suggestion made by any noble Lord, whether made to your Lordships' House or to the committee directly?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, that seems to me to be a very Christian attitude.

§ Lady Saltoun of Abernethy
My Lords, do our cards have to be so big and heavy? Would it not be possible for the picture card with its envelope to weigh under 10 grammes so that it could go at the cheapest postal rate?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, that has already been discussed in the sub-committee. There are possibilities of that kind. The present thought is that the smaller card is suitable for airmail. To have the quality and a decent reproduction on the larger card it is rather more difficult to bring it down to 10 grammes.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, I hope that your Lordships will not consider it to be a jarring intervention, but some of us feel that the larger card is rather expensive. It costs four times as much as the equivalent card in another place. I understand that the same firm produces both cards. Is it possible for that aspect of the matter to be looked at?

§ Lord Aberdare
My Lords, another place has a much larger turnover of cards; about five or six times as many. It also undertakes a large part of the administrative arrangements within the Fees Office of another place. I do not think that our card compares badly with equivalent cards that one can buy outside.