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You cheap, lousy maggot: how Fairytale of New York started a Christmas culture war

  • It’s a song about alcoholism and a darkly dysfunctional marriage, it’s replete with crude swear words and insults, and it has found itself at the centre of an escalating culture war for years. And yet Fairytale of New York by The Pogues remains one of Britain’s favourite Christmas songs. The sad death of the band’s hell-raising singer Shane MacGowan after a long period of ill health will give the song a new lease of life this festive season, as if it ever needed one.
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