Opening presents is tough: hiding greed, masking disappointment and feigning gratitude. You’re also probably being filmed for the family time capsule and you’ll be on YouTube within hours.
That’s what happened to a poor American woman called Emily this Christmas. She’s starting 2012 as the latest social media sensation. The video has been removed, but I can report that on receiving and flicking through Republican candidate Ron Paul’s Liberty Defined, she burst into tears, saying: ‘He just called Israel an apartheid state. I’m not reading this.’
It’s hard to know who comes out worse this time of year; each gift’s a mutual minefield. On coming home from the holidays this year, I was greeted by a neat little parcel from my flatmate.
Inside were three berry coloured bijoux of books. The first title glared out at me: Humiliation by Walter Koestembaum.
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