Sex toys in advent calendars? It’s the antithesis of Christmas

The advent calendar was designed as a spiritual discipline to help Christians prepare for the coming of Christ. But versions filled with expensive gifts, alcohol and even sex toys, are turning them into a platform for excess and even vice, says Dr Gavin Ashenden

It ought to be a case of once bitten twice shy, but there are always risks attached to bearing witness to Jesus in the public square.

Last Lent I was approached by a Daily Telegraph journalist to give an opinion on how hot cross buns, traditionally associated with Easter, were being turned from simple comestibles into full fat treats, stuffed with every kind of chocolate and additional sweet fillings.

I gave into the temptation of trying to explain spiritual and metaphysical concerns to the journalist, and made the mistake of quoting St Anselm. It was a step too far. As I tried to explain that the symbol of the cross was sacred and therefore any kind of subversion of its importance might become a kind of perversion, “the devil” appeared in Anselm’s explanation - and so in mine. I soon found myself not only carelessly misquoted in The Telegraph but on the front page of The Daily Star next to a cartoon of Satan himself.