THE season of goodwill bypasses the old gasworks by the Thames; political point-scoring at Westminster doesn't take a holiday.
And so to the last hurrah, the final PMQs of 2014, and the contest to see who could poke who in the eye the hardest.
Red Ed thought he could bruise the Tory toff's shiny face by quoting the BBC and the OBR to denounce how those incompassionate Conservatives would take us down the road to Wigan Pier and the austerity of the 1930s.
But the PM also quoted the OBR, pointing out how the Tory plans that would lead us to 2020 would have the same level of real terms day-to-day public spending as 2002 when, er, Labour were in power.
The blows on the economy continued as more figures flew with Ed coming up with a doozy - £50bn of cuts to Britain's services to realise Dave's "1930s vision" of a Tory utopia.
But Flashman, nose slightly raised, hit back, accusing Labour's concern about reducing the deficit of lasting barely a week and quoted the IFS as saying a Miliband future would mean more borrowing and more debt.
Ed responded by accusing Tory high command of sneakily preparing to sting the British public with another VAT rise - just like the last time - to fill the black hole of the PM's £7bn of unfunded cuts.
But Dave sported a wily smile and declared he had got his Christmas present early this year - a leaked Labour document. Tory eyes widened.
He urged the comrades to read page 16. "Be patient," he told the Labour frontbench, "it's there in black and white; managing the economy, it says, the Conservatives have a 17-point lead." As Dave sat down, the blue rinsers roared with laughter.
Ed tried to regain his equilibrium, quipping how the PM had "brought a whole new meaning to the phrase 'conviction politician' when Andy Coulson went to jail".
But Flashman had the momentum and grabbed the last laugh, noting: "I almost feel sorry for Labour MPs.
"Because they can't talk about the deficit because it's falling, growth because it's rising, jobs because we're increasing them, immigration because they've been told not to, their leader because he's a complete waste of space; no wonder for Labour MPs this year it's a silent night."
Not the greatest of quips but the Tory MPs left looking as though they'd eaten all the mince pies.
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