It feels like it's dark pretty much all of the time here in Britain at the moment. I'm so glad of all those cheery Christmas lights.  This year the winter solstice falls on Sunday 22nd. It’s the longest night, the shortest day. For many years this really bothered me. As someone with seasonal affective disorder lack of light is a real issue. But I now see it as something to be celebrated. We’ve done it, we’ve reached the shortest day which means that little by little, minute by minute the days are going to get longer from here on in. There was a wonderful Christmas episode of Doctor Who a few years ago when the Doctor described midwinter celebrations as celebrations of being halfway out of the dark. That seems like a really good description to me.