Christmas Day has been and gone. At the end of it my beloved surveyed the house and declared it to be a bit of a mess. At this point I conjured up a gin-assisted theory that this was in keeping with the true meaning of Christmas, as a celebration of one of the fundamental processes of the universe, namely the progression from a state of order to a state of disorder.

Scientists call this entropy. Through processes which are poorly understood, bits of the universe get organised into small pockets of organised matter in the shape of galaxies, stars, planets and lifeforms such as people, turkeys and brussel sprouts. Over time this organisation breaks down, so that eventually all that remains is dust and radiation. At Christmas we mimic this process by carefully organising nicely wrapped presents, beautifully prepared food and a well-stocked drinks cabinet. Then our friends and relatives descend on us and transform this into discarded wrapping paper, dirty plates, half-finished drinks, stains on the carpet and other waste products which I won't mention in a polite blog such as this.

Anyway I hope that you all had a nice Christmas and that your entropy levels were kept at manageable levels. Then, of course, there is the question of expanding waistlines, but I won't dwell on that just yet.