Ariana Grande & The Wicked Press

[@jonathanwilliams1280]

Loved the quality street debate. My mum used to line all the toffee pennys on the radiator to soften them before eating them and to this day that is the only way I can eat them.

[@Britt_artist]

I love this beautiful memory x

[@PeterWatson-li5qd]

"Let me tell you, the British people are nutters." I was laughing so loud my daughter came downstairs to see what was going on. Didn't think it was possible to love Marina more. X

[@pwoodwardsmith]

Thank you so much for the comment about people in their 20s - it makes me so sad that people feel they need to “improve” themselves with fillers, injections, surgery etc and they are literally looking the best version of themselves in terms of their skin etc.

[@Elwaves2925]

I agree, I will always prefer someone who is natural over artifcially enhanced. For me, the only reasons for plastic surgery or anything like that is after some form of disfigurement, as in an accident, attack or something like that.

[@jadesx96]

The thing that upsets me as well is they're doing it to prevent ageing when for one thing it usually accelerates it or makes you look older and for another like we're in our 20s: what ageing?! Put on a good face spf and go enjoy yourself T_T

[@Elwaves2925]

@@jadesx96 Yet one thing it doesn't and can't stop is ageing. At best it only makes them appear younger but they are still the same age in all ways. It's a huge delusion.

[@charlottelee3727]

What about how news sidebars talk about women's post baby bodies? That makes me feel sick.

[@Elwaves2925]

@@charlottelee3727 Yeah, those can be disgusting and as soon as the new mother's defend themselves, they get it all again.

[@geekboymeta7381]

Beautiful message from Richard at the start of the pod, ignoring idiots and taking care of yourself - I think he may have phrased it with slightly more panache than me but you get the point! 😀

[@cameronbrowne6260]

15:25 - Richard, the way you talk about body image and self love is really great and means a lot. As a 24 y/o man who is lucky enough to be able bodied and have the means and energy to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle, it can be so easy to be fed up with yourself for not looking how you think you should. Your perspective is one I need to hear more; the conversation and stimulants are constanlty around you, remember to take time out, talk to people you love, remember you're loved, there is no shame in struggling, everyone has their struggles - social media is not real life.

[@TristanColgate]

"you like toffee pennies?! How on earth are we doing a podccast" - that's one of the most British things ever recorded

[@Janey_Jax]

"Those filthy fruit cremes...War crimes" 😂😂 Thanks for making me LOL, and for the most joyous, life-affirming podcast 🥰🥰

[@Walperion_Music]

17:14 - lol there's noooo way that "Wallace and Grommit" joke wasn't pre-written and he was sitting at that gold for the whole week! Waaay too brilliant!

[@TheSludgeMan]

I completely agree with Marina about the music. There are so many great Christmas songs by artists like Merle Haggard, Donny Hathaway, the Carpenters, and The Sonics, but we never hear them because we are trapped in the Mariah/Wham brainrot loop forever.

[@spinifex2d]

Never thought I'd read a sentence that mentioned both the carpenters and the sonics lol

[@andyjohnson4907]

What Richard was saying about young people getting surgery reminded me of Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. "The Three of them were beautiful, in the way all girls of that age are beautiful. It can't be helped, that sort of beauty, nor can it be conserved; it's a freshness, a plumpness of the cells that's unearned and temporary, and that nothing can replicate. None of them was satisfied with it, however; already they were making attempts to alter themselves into some impossible, imaginary mould, plucking and pencilling away at their faces. I didn't blame them, having done the same once myself."

[@KevinClairSoutham]

Can we clarify the polling question on Martin Lewis and Jeremy Clarkson? Asking “who would win” is NOT the same thing as asking “who would you vote for”. 76% of people think Lewis would win means that 76% of those polled think most most people would vote for him. If you asked who would they vote for I think you would get very different numbers.

[@NinaGray-eq9on]

Regs Quality Street - I have not eaten them for many years as they are a Nestlé product + I maintain my protest against them due to their immoral pushing of baby milk powder in Africa without proper guidance resulting in many children being very ill or dying. They have improved these practices in recent years, though I don't forget or forgive how difficult it was to get them to amend their way. Having said this, when I was a child, my faves were in order: 1.) Toffee Penny 2.) Toffee finger 3.) The coconut one. Marina is not a psycho for choosing the toffee penny.

[@jrx3361]

If you squint your ears it sounds like Brenda Lee sings “later we’ll have some f#ckin’ pie….” 😂 We’ve sung that since I was a little kid! 😅 Also, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is IN Home Alone, along with a few other greats. The two go together!

[@RichardBriggs-t2s]

toffee penny banter, subbed.

[@MrHarbonaut]

35:47 "You do everything your mum says, do you?" Brilliant schoolyard bants 🤣

[@DavidHP66]

Thank you Richard! Absolutely agree with your views on youth and looks. Funny thing occurred with my tablet’s speech to text translation of the slimming product was “a zen pig” 😂😂

[@nixpuk75]

😂😂

[@rogermaybank9345]

I'm with Marina, love a toffee penny.

[@annabelstewart1423]

‘I’ve got heritage’ 😂😂😂😂

[@OldManStan]

The best people to start saying this is unacceptable to the media are people like you Marina, who work in the industry. You know well enough the way public attitudes are directly related to the information they are fed and the way its fed. Start with the media and work outwards, if you want to see less people ripped apart. You and your friends who believe what you believe must clean up your industry!

[@LeonEvans_Guyver1]

Bridget Jones's Diary is our xmas no.1 in our house. The wife and I love it and watch it every year without fail, it signifies the start of December for us ❤❤👍👍

[@EleanorPeterson]

The body image thing runs deep. Worries about weight, shape and size are bad enough, but the scale of the skin-lightening industry in India is truly tragic. Never heard of it? That makes it doubly sad.

[@paulies5407]

I’ve heard of it I just don’t care

[@BrandonBlockOiOi]

And in Indonesia. It’s terrible. Giant billboards telling you to be whiter.

[@phill6859]

Ironically none of the people affected by body image issues, care about what I think at all because of what I look like. So it's not something I can do anything about.

[@aitchem2137]

Thankyou for this - positive message: no shame, we all struggle, life is invariably tough and 2% of people are horrible, but you are loved. You guys are a bit of a legendary pairing. Even at a musical level - Richard’s sonorous basso profundo sagacity, teamed with Marina’s soprano zeitgeist-surfing tones - it’s all Win. You’re like my funny, plugged in, humane, silly and sensible friends - i could listen to you two jamming indefinitely. Keep that content coming! ❤

[@MrThreescoops]

Signed: Baby Kangaroo Tribiani

[@danielkarmy4893]

I have never read a better line than, 'Richard's sonorous basso profundo sagacity, teamed with Marina's soprano zeitgeist-surfing tones'...

[@michaelantonyaustin]

I’m 53 and have always viewed Die Hard as a Christmas movie - in exactly the same way as the equally brilliant Home Alone… I‘m a Labour supporter and love Love, Actually… Elf is awful… It‘s A Wonderful Life is the greatest Christmas movie ever made… Toffee Penny‘s are the best sweet in Quality Street - the Strawberry Cream is always the very last to go… I have never been polled! 😂

[@Elwaves2925]

Because Die Hard is a Xmas movie. It meets the most basic requirements to be that (being set at Xmas) but that makes it count. I just said to someone else, you could remove the Xmas aspects from Home Alone and even It's a Wonderful Life and they will still work as movies. Xmas is just the setting (which certainly helps), just like Die Hard. I can't say I've seen Elf to say it's awful but it has Will Ferrell in it, so I'll never watch it. That says enough.

[@piganeiros]

You lost me at the Elf disrespect!

[@michaelantonyaustin]

@@piganeiros😂

[@alundavies1016]

I love the strawberry cream, maybe because you don’t need to fight for it and I hate confrontation!😊

[@travelwell6049]

I commented on her weight after I saw her on the Jimmy Fallon (?) show, and I can say I was genuinely concerned for her. *Especially* due to the fact that she's been in the public eye since she was child. And her management have made her have plastic surgery already. So yes I do feel worried about whether she is being protected, unlike Britney, unlike Lindsay Lohan, unlike Justin Bieber. The industry hasn't changed, and I genuinely hope that Ariana has people around her who actually care about the human and not the brand.

[@all-range-mode]

Fantastic Toffee Penny Rant at @35:55

[@joboswell29]

Stopping the podcast to say I love you Marina. And you are 100% correct in your preference of quality street 😂

[@CharlotteWV01]

Shocked Muppets Christmas Carol is not no.1, devastated.

[@OXmraz]

Toffee Pennie’s have always been my favorite! I’m shocked it isn’t everyone else’s too.

[@melissaoverland692]

The two of you together are absolutely brilliant!!! Funny, intelligent, interesting! I’ve been watching your podcast from the beginning and just wanted to say thank you so much and I hope you and yours have a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Wish I lived in the UK so I could have attended your live Christmas show. Any chance it will be available on KZbin? Loved the pictures of you two at your show! Merry, merry and happy, happy! 👍✌️😊🎄👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@sarahbarringer9526]

Love the flash ups of Richard!

[@iandavidson99]

Gremlins is a Christmas movie too!

[@stewartbrodie1720]

Also contains a great Christmas song "Do you hear what I hear?" Also, responsible for prolonged sniggering whenever encountering a stair lift.

[@trudimclaren4301]

12:11 yes, totally! I look back on photos of me when I was 18, and thought I was fat and ugly, and now I see how good I looked - but ironically, I'm happier in my own skin now, in my late 40s. I don't know about other women's experiences, but my sister (who is 65, and from a different generation) used to give me weight loss tips, and always commented positively when I lost weight, so effectively ingrained eating disorders in me. I've been anorexic abd bulimic. She is still so obsessed with how much we and my other sister weigh, and where she fits in. I've lost weight (healthily, finally) and that's always the first thing she comments on. I wonder how many other women have had the same experience?

[@MrsRachelKam]

My son watched Home Alone at 6; he then went down the stairs in a giant box with his baby sister recreating the sled scene 😂

[@alexwilliamrussell]

Its hard for print media to discuss a musical, so that leaves side issues like looks. And movie owners dont let snippets of music be on the news anymore. Yet they do press tours.

[@SkinnyObelix]

So not only am I on board with the bookshelves, I now agree with the quality street assessment by Marina!

[@ScooterBoy72]

Toffee Penny is my favourite also! This podcast is one of the best I listen too.

[@Elmirador42]

Just loving the snapshot of Richard in a FFC Xmas jumper. COYWs.

[@shobhitkaul8076]

The best thing about you two is that even if you are mostly British culture exposed... You are still very positive.. rare in a British dialogue/podcast

[@juless1161]

I’ve never felt more in sync with Marina than when she talked about the Christmas chocolate tins, totally agree with all those opinions

[@geoffhaggett3080]

Oh no, she is completely wrong on this! The fruit creams are my favourite, they make up part of my 5 a day at Christmas. The real war crime is the toffee penny….it hasn’t even got chocolate on it! My toffee pennys go straight (unwrappped) in the food recycling bin!

[@zkspanz]

Two Christmas movies with the great Alan Rickman- Die Hard and Love Actually. Alan Rickman's typical onscreen persona is very relatable at Christmas.

[@sianwarwick633]

So you're saying Alan Rickman is Christmas

[@zkspanz]

@@sianwarwick633 We might be on the brink of uncovering a profound truth...

[@AndrewJLeslie]

No mention of Merry Christmas Everyone by Slade? I hear this in my head far more than those mentioned.

[@andrewbutler7681]

For me the battle for Christmas Number One will always be between Slade and Wizzard... And I'm conflicted: I like both strawberry creams and toffee pennies!

[@impossiblenamechoice]

My love for the strawberry creme came with age, but I absolutely adore the coconut eclair (I also love a bounty) so I get to mop up all the unpopular chocolate in our house

[@louisesuth8141]

off topic, but just finished the latest Jackson Brodie and the man who dies twice gets a mention, so pleased for Richard :)

[@stixdan]

Including all the downloads / streams is like going into people's houses and looking at their stereo to see what CD or tape or vinyl they're playing. Loads of those Christmas songs would have been played on repeat every year, but it wasn't in the charts because you can't track it. Now it's easier to stream it rather than put a record on, so it can be tracked, but I don't think that means listening habits are necessarily that different from pre-streaming, it's just changed a little perhaps during the streaming era as younger people have started to discover those old songs more easily

[@Josephinejefferies]

My son, 50yrs old and myself 70yrs watch Die Hard every Christmas and it is a Christmas film.

[@chrisalbertyn4004]

FYI - the Lord of the Rings is also a Christmas film, as Frodo and the Fellowship leave Rivendell on Christmas Day (Dec 25th, Year 3018). It should be included on the list.

[@RichardInTheLakes]

The chocolate discussion was the best! Please discuss more chocolates next time!

[@stuartbadminton]

Just want to add another voice to Richard's here. You're in your twenties? You do look amazing. People walk past you in the street and think how amazing you look. They wish that they looked that good. Not just the skin and and hair; your confidence, your poise, your awkwardness. People love it. You're amazing.

[@donskuse2194]

My daughter was recently looking at photos from my teens and early twenties and she said, “You were handsome then”. I will take that to my deathbed ❤.

[@stewartbrodie1720]

I filled my 2024 LImited Edition tin of Quality Street at John Lewis in Cambridge with all my favourites. The tin calls them: Strawberry Delight, Caramel Swirl, Coffee Creme, Milk Choc Block, The Green Triangle, The Purple One and Fudge. No orange ones (due to allergy) and no toffee ones. for me!

[@Kardiac]

For me, A Muppets Christmas Carol. Scrooged and Die Hard tick my 'okay it's officially Christmas now' box. The Die Hard denial amuses me. It's set during a Christmas party. There's snow and Christmas music. There's also Santa hats on corpses but that's a minor point I suppose. It's clearly a Christmas film. As is Die Hard 2 and Lethal Weapon.

[@richarddenton7724]

Bedrotting!!! My life goal has been decided by learning of this. Perfect future. Thank you

[@KristineMaitland]

I put forward The Holiday (mind you Jude, Amanda and Jasper are creepy) and Last Holiday (Queen Latifah was a dear). I'm from Canada and we used to get some series from Britain at Christmas in the 70s and early 80s: Ballet Shoes, The Little Princess, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and one that I have yet to find again, The Mystery of the Disappearing School Girls.

[@Groundeyes]

The entertainment and beauty industry are the source of the problem not the press. If those industries aren't criticised for what they are doing then the cycle is going to continue, and people with eating disorders will continue to have them. The industries pushing idealised or specific images of women is an old story.

[@boatieuk72]

The chocolate discussion literally made me laugh out loud

[@nicholedowning8341]

I grew up about 35 miles from Laurel Ms. Lol. My sister lived there for several years. The town has really become a beautiful place in the last several years.

[@oneoldgit]

Driving Home for Christmas --Chris Rea Best Christmas song

[@sapientcapricorn191]

as a 20 year old watching this, thanks for the sentiment. always a good reminder :3

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

If there was any hope for the country at all, clearly the Christmas #1 would be Seasons Greetings in the Abyss by Sleigher.

[@darkfieldmpls]

Thanks for spotlighting what is obviously the most grave and seriously consequential issue the entire world is facing currently.

[@donskuse2194]

I agree with Richard - the strawberry cream and the orange cream. The last time I bought Quality Street (here in Canada) I didn’t taste much quality. Not sure if my taste buds have changed or if they’re made here in Canada with different recipes but I didn’t enjoy them like I used to.

[@judithmorganjudyteen]

They're different in UK now, shame

[@lakrids-pibe]

I for one prefer the toffee penny in Quality Street. It might be the simplest, but it works. The strawberry cream tastes like chemical shortcuts and disappointment. It may be more expensive to produce, but it still tastes far too cheap. You can keep them.

[@maxine2798]

Are you young? The appeal disappears as your teeth age

[@relayer27]

There weren't many Christmas songs in the charts before the massive surge in the 70s with Slade , Wizzard etc, but best one ever is Greg Lake's I Beleive in Father Christmas

[@thestalkinghead]

my favorite Christmas film is Scrooged, dont judge me like that, i love the song at the end, i have actually bought it because of the film, Jackie DeShannon - Put A Little Love In Your Heart (1969)

[@LOSTEXPLAINED108]

Die Hard absolutely IS a Christmas movie. First of all, who decides what qualifies as a Christmas movie?! I'll get to that. Second of all, Die Hard not only is set on Christmas Eve and has many Christmas-adjacent elements (the score has sleigh bells in it for pete's sake!) but it also has Christmas themes. John McClane is trying to reconcile with his estranged wife in time for the holidays, but a Grinch-like villain has come to town to steal away all of the presents. There are multiple moments in which Christmas miracles are performed (John McClane himself is a walking, talking Christmas miracle) and festive themed sticky tape literally saves the day at the very end. The greedy and selfish either get punished, punched or perish whilst those who cherish their loved ones and help others are rewarded. By every definition, Die Hard is a Christmas movie: the setting, the iconography, the music, the themes, the characters. Here's a way of looking at it: people argue that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, right? But not many people will argue that Lethal Weapon is also Christmas movie even though it is an action film set at Christmastime. Do you know why? Because in Lethal Weapon, the time of year is incidental (it could be happening at any time) and the overall themes are more loosely connected to the season. Whereas in Die Hard, the time of year is the ONLY reason why the elements of the story come together and happen the way that they do, and it is weaved into the fabric of the plot. John and Holly are trying to give their marriage a go *because* it's Christmas. Hans Gruber is taking over the building *because* it's Christmas Eve and barely a creature is stirring. Does anyone question Home Alone's credentials as a legit Christmas movie? No, they do not. Yet Home Alone is about a young protagonist outsmarting a couple of crooks who are trying to rob his house and ruin Christmas for everyone... Hold on, Die Hard is about that too, right? Our older protagonist tries to outsmart a gang of crooks who are trying to rob the building where his wife works, spoiling Christmas for everyone. Why is one a no brainer for festive categorisation and the other is suddenly falling short? I'll tell you why... plain old fashioned movie snobbery and people trying to control what does and does not count. Die Hard is as Christmassy as anything else before or since. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

[@donskuse2194]

People prefer being happy at Christmas - who wouldn’t? - but it’s important to remember lost loved ones also. I choose ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby and ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ by Judy Garland for those times. Have a little cry (or a big cry) and then move along to the lights, the shopping crowds, and watching as many Christmas movies that you can possibly squeeze in during the busy season. My favourites? ‘Scrooge’ with Alastair Sim (no other Scrooge movie can hold a candle to this classic); ‘White Christmas’ with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye; and of course ‘Home Alone’, ‘Elf’, and ‘Die Hard’. Of those only ‘Die Hard’ can be watched year round, but always save a space for it at Christmastime. For TV shows always watch ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer’. They have great soundtracks! ‘Silver Bells’ by Burl Ives is one of my Top 10 Christmas songs. I brainwashed my wife and our two children to love the classic songs as sung by the old-timers, and my wife and I together found Celine Dion’s great album. Throw Barbra Streisand in there and you’ll have two of the best female singers of all time fighting it out for a place in the Top 10. Sorry folks, but I’m not sure I can fit Mariah Carey into my Top 10. Sacrilege of the highest degree! Forgive me please, as baby Jesus would. For country fans there’s the classic Gene Autry album (one of the best selling Christmas albums of all time) and it was my favourite as a child. For a modern country take the ‘Alabama’ Christmas album is awesome. You don’t have to like country to love this album! If you imagine the best Christmas as being outside the city then this is the album for you. Have a great season everyone and be kind to your neighbours of other faiths. Christmas is Love. We’re called to love.

[@nixxie2390]

A Christmas film that is Brilliant, but somehow not many people know about, is 'Scrooge the musical' by the same production people that did 'Oliver!' - the songs are banging - the story is well constructed - the horror of Scrooge not realising he's dead is well done - the cast is amazing too - give it a try!

[@LeonardWright-d5v]

Best Christmas song - Paul Kelly's How to make gravy. Maybe it's just an Australian thing.

[@adronias]

Once the purple ones are knocked off it's usually a steady miners hat donned descent until only the green triangles, toffee pennys and toffee fingers are left.

[@SamValleyz]

You know it is crazy I'm 30 years old and I look back at when I was in my teens. When I was 14 years old the only thing I was allowed to use was a bit of glitter lip gloss. That my mom didn't allow me to wear to often. And I didn't care about things like the skin care creams. The only thing I cared about was sunscreen because I easily burn. Then as I turned 16 then I was more into trying to play around with make up more. But I didn't care about aging or looking young. Even now that I'm 30 got a couple grey hairs. I don't get skin cream or anything like that. And I'm hearing about the 14 year olds worrying about aging and buying stuff that can damage there skin because they are to young for it. And I am like 'what the heck happened? How did we go from just wanting to wear glittery colorful make up? To now worrying that at 14 we need to wear skin aging cream?" & also I love Ariana Grande but I am worried about her. Like I used to think the times she lost weight in the past where just maybe she was more active, or eating better. Because I look at for me personally I tend to gain weight in the winter. Because it is to cold and there isn't much to do outside. And shoveling snow is enough of a workout for me. And also with the fact that I do more baking, cook bigger meals then. Where as the spring/summer I lose weight because I am outside being more active and I am not doing a lot of baking or bigger meals. But the way she is looking now. Like I'm not trying to judge her base on her looks. But at the same time. I'm worried about her. I don't want to see her lose her life at a young age because of it.

[@hjt2236]

The Celebrations Malteser isn't even the best version of a Malteser! It's too much chocolate. The OG Maltesers are far superior!

[@andreasrensen6465]

Usually, I’m on Team Richard, but today, I have to jump ship. Strawberry creams!?!?

[@kinolibby6580]

To be fair toffee pennies are a lot better than they used to be. Back in the old days the foil would break off and get stuck inside them and you'd have to spit out tiny little bits of tinfoil. My unpopular favourite is coconut...

[@duncandunorlan9166]

Yes and Yes! Coconut 'chew' has always been the best (closely followed by the choc toffee in a brown wrapper - RIP) and penny toffees are indeed now edible for someone like me with too many fillings in their teeth. Before the paper wrappings were introduced, I'd be risking 'Marathon Man - like' torture if I ate one.

[@donskuse2194]

We would get along well. You can have the toffee pennies and I’ll take the coconut.

[@starryxblue]

Fruit creams are vile and Love Actually is terrible (except for Emma Thompson). I agree about the Maltesers though...

[@FloatingAnarchy61]

I'm not particularly a fan of Mariah, but the remarkable thing she pulled off with All I Want For Christmas is making it sound like an old standard. First time I heard it I assumed it was a cover, it wouldn't have been out of place on Phil Spectors Christmas album. If you want an alternative to all the jolliness though I'd recommend Things Fall Apart by Cristina. It originally appeared on a Ze records Christmas compilation in 1981 (along with the Waitresses Christmas Wrapping amongst others). It sums up that feeling of enduring Christmas mostly for the sake of others really. It's got great slashing guitar and synth and she sounds so impossibly bored. I love the deadpan delivery of the last few lines after leaving a party, 'I started to feel queasy in the crowd. I caught a cab back to my flat. And wept a bit. And fed the cat'. If there was any jusice in the world the song would be huge, not forgotten in the mists of time.

[@rolyons]

Never seen Home Alone, Die Hard, Elf or Love Actually... there's still time. 😂 Love It's a Wonderful Life, Meet me in St Louis, Wizard of Oz and Hudsucker Proxy.

[@mavkuhn]

I don't go to the cinema, can't afford Netflix etc., don't listen to current music, but do read .... so WHY do I absolutely love you guys so much?! 😂 Listening to your banter and clever quips about people/films/music I've never heard of makes me roar with laughter. Great chemistry 🎉 and fascinating insights into entertainment industries 👏 I start smiling when Marina smiles and says hello. She always looks like she and Richard have just shared a private joke that Richard is hiding better than Marina 😊 Thanks for all you do!

[@lartens]

Just want to say, rocking around the Christmas tree has been number 10 or 21 on my christmas the mo fo compilation for the last 24 years

[@a0z905]

LOVE a Quality Street toffee penny!! 🏅

[@louisecraftyguider]

I hate all the cream chocolates with a passion, and add all the coconut ones too (I’m looking at you Bounty). The best one is the Roses truffle with the whole hazelnut but I just eat the chocolate and chuck away the nut. Why can’t they save money and just ditch the nut?

[@tokyobear]

Hilarious at the end when they pretend to almost fall out again. 🤗

[@steveholmes11]

Lifted off Facebook: I'm going to end the Die Hard is a Christmas movie debate. An outnumbered force with limited resources reclaims a tower that was taken by a foreign invader. That's literally Hanukkah. Die Hard is a Hanukkah movie.

[@mungoboomdecker9711]

Felez Navidad might get a Netflix bounce, it's the theme for it's American Football Xmas day event.

[@parkmannate4154]

The best Christmas film is Princess Bride which is clearly set at Christmas

[@Ulleskelf]

I want Wengie's 'Ugly Christmas Sweater' or 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' by Gayle Peevey to be the Christmas number 1!

[@petermcmillan3446]

It's horribly ironic that one of the main themes of Wicked is body shaming and its consequences.

[@paurlbutler1962]

Slight irony that KZbin should drop in a weight loss ad in the middle of the Ariana Grande segment!

[@CynicalRhys]

Strawberry cream vs toffee penny is a hard choice, if pushed to eat one I would take the toffee penny in a heartbeat but how either of those could be number 1 I don't know. Orange Cream is the best, though I know not many people agree as I've never had dificulty getting one somehow, everyone else seems to leave them.

[@shanemurphy8682]

The Fellowship left Rivendell on 25th December. So could be argued the entire Lord of the rings movies are not only Christmas movies but some of the best

[@RacingRef]

The sweets argument had me creased 😂 I agree with Richard love the strawberry and orange creams.

[@lukesmith5018]

I agree with Marina on the quality street - fruit creams are evil and the toffee pennies are great

[@joepiekl]

I feel like the only way to make the charts relevant again is to limit them to songs released in the last year. Because it seems ridiculous to me to base it on streams. Obviously classic songs are going to be consistently streamed, but it's not like people weren't constantly listening to old records back in the day too. That's not what the charts are supposed to be about, they're supposed to be about the popular new music.

[@spagbolflippertygibbet7139]

What times we live in. Amazing

[@oneworldfamily]

What Marina says about Ozempic can be directly applied to much of the pharmaceutical industry's approach to common noncommunicable diseases. "They have done nothing at all to help us reckon with these incredibly ingrained atavistic feelings we have about fat and body weight". The primacy of the pharmaceutical model in our healthcare is not only extremely unscientific, but also perverts the reality and healthful approaches to reversing these diseases.

[@KevinClairSoutham]

On the quality street - John Lewis used to sell them individually if I remember correctly. Maybe you should ask them which one sold the best as clearly it wouldnt have been any of the “creams” which everyone except Richard knows are vile.

[@stewartbrodie1720]

"used to"? Have they sold out since last weekend?? I was intending to go down tomorrow to the John Lewis in Cambridge to fill another tin!

[@curting2000]

It feels like such a sad day when Santa Clause the Movie isn't featured. It's such a good movie.

[@alexrandall3685]

Mummy and Daddy, please stop arguing. (It’s taken a Quality Street conversation to breakup a beautiful relationship!)

[@Fran-sf6vh]

I want to know why Christmas songs only become popular about 10 years after their initial release. Last Christmas is a good example. The song was huge when released and then was never played until the mid 90s, possibly later. Now it's played everywhere all the time.

[@daviebananas1735]

Last Christmas was played every Christmas my entire life since it’s release right through the 80s and 90s. These songs only started CHARTING again due to streaming as they always get played lots at Christmas, which under the new rules mean they chart every year. They are no more or less popular, the charts just count the streams now.

[@Fran-sf6vh]

@daviebananas1735 Unfortunately I never heard it, and I kept an ear out for it as it's probably the only Christmas song that I can bare. Wasn't even on the shop song mixes where I worked. Bloody Noddy Holder was thought 🤣

[@AlyshaMorgan-l6i]

Great comments on the whole weight issue but Love Actually is an absolute shocker of a film.

[@tabitha_h2000]

100% team Marina for the quality street debate 🍬