It is ironic and contradictory that the feast of Christmas at which we celebrate the birth of Christ, has become the biggest shopping event right around the world.
 
St. Luke tells us that in response to the decree of Caesar Augustus for a census of the whole world to be taken, Joseph and his pregnant wife, Mary, set out for his ancestral city Bethlehem in order to be registered.
 

Though it is a relatively new product, plastic is all around us, sometimes for good, but more often as toxic waste. But its uses are many and varied.
 
It insulates electric wiring and makes it safe. Most light switches and plugs are made of plastic and it is also used to make pipes that transport our drinking water and sewage.
 

On May 23 this year, Marawi City in the southern Philippines was put under siege by a Muslim jihadi group known as the Maute that has pledged its loyalty to the rebellion of the Islamic State.
 
Over 1,000 people have died in the subsequent five months, the vast majority of them Muslims from Marawi.
 
The complete population of the majority Muslim city has fled and the Maute wrote on a jihadist website, “If you can’t reach Syria, go to The Philippines!”
 

A decision by the president of the United States of America (US), Donald Trump, to withdraw his country from the Paris Accord on climate change weakens US global leadership.
Responses from the leaders of the G7 countries were negative. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was highly critical of Trump’s decision, calling it “extremely regrettable and that is putting it mildly.”
 

In July this year, the Swedish automobile manufacturer, Volvo, announced it will cease putting internal combustion engines in its cars in 2019 and will only make fully electric or hybrid models.
 
This is the boldest commitment by any automotive company so far in the development of electric or hybrid cars. But other manufacturers are also moving in that direction and this year, General Motors launched the Chevrolet Bolt, which is a battery powered car.
 

July 2016 was the hottest month since records began in 1880. Jos Lelieveld, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute, has warned that large areas of the planet could become so hot that they would be virtually uninhabitable for humans.

This would trigger an exodus of hundreds of millions of refugees. Lelieveld maintains, “The July temperatures must underline the urgency of the crisis.”

I finally kicked smoking on 1 January 1972. It was a huge struggle, as nicotine is as addictive as heroin, but it was my New Year resolution and I was able to stick with it. 

I made my first visit to Kew Gardens in London in the early 1980s. It is a beautiful and highly scientific place and in May this year, it produced an extraordinarily important report on The State of the World’s Plants.

The good news is that the staff now believe that there are 390,000 species of plants on earth. The director of science at Kew Gardens, Kathy Willis, spoke to Damian Carrington of The Guardian about the importance of plants for humans.