One in five people in the UK hate Christmas.
Matt Edmondson
A new study - conducted by Virgin Trains and based on social media analysis - has found that 19 per cent of the nation can't wait for the festive season to be over, while 81 per cent thoroughly enjoy dressing the tree, eating grub and wrapping up presents.
Matt Edmondson told BANG Showbiz: ''Much like my family's attitude to cracking out the board games on Boxing Day, us Brits are a divided bunch when it comes to getting into the Christmas spirit. From moaning about merry carol singers and bright festive lights to dreading Michael Bublé's latest offering (for the record, I'm team Bublé all the way), there really are some scroogey tweets going around. I have my grumpy moments too (no, I don't want to sample your sprouts, even if you've used Nigella's recipe), but it's easy to forget that this is the time of year to celebrate with loved ones and put our differences aside - even serious ones like Brussel sprout preferences. Amongst all the madness, it's been good to see the funny side with Virgin Trains, as we welcome in the silly season (warts and all) and spread some cheer this Christmas.''
Festive good-feelings are likely to dramatically snowball from December 18, as we enter the final working week before the Christmas break, while positive sentiment towards carol singing increases on average by 34 per cent from mid-November to mid-December as we begin to get into the winter spirit.
Patrick McCall, Co-Chairman, Virgin Trains, told BANG Showbiz: ''Here at Virgin Trains we love Christmas. It's all about connecting friends and family; and that's at the heart of what we do. This year, whilst we connect friends and families on our journeys on the West and East Coast, we have a festive mission: to spread a little Christmas cheer everywhere we go in a light-hearted way that we can all relate to.''