Christmas spells jingle hell

Some department stores are at it already and within two weeks, there will be no escape - shops will be piping in the Christmas Muzak tapes.

Noddy Holder will be wishing everybody a merry Christmas, Sir Cliff Richard will be warbling about mistletoe and wine, and Band Aid will inevitably ask whether "they" know it's Christmas time at all.

Now MPs Stephen Pound and Colin Breed are calling for a ban on Muzak until four weeks before the festive season.

They describe it as "a mechanism for emptying people's wallets" and are holding it responsible for corroding the religious festival's influence.

A spokesman for Selfridges defended the store's early decision to open its Christmas Hall with piped music, saying: "We wouldn't have it open if people didn't want to shop in it. We are a business after all."

Woolworth's, another culprit, said: "Our customers tell us they like it and so do our staff."