The National:

THE woman known as Britain’s strictest headteacher has penned a bizarre letter to Marks and Spencer’s criticising the retailer for “undermining” the spirit of Christmas.

M&S’s recently released Christmas advert features celebrities such as actor Hannah Waddingham and TV stylist Tan France rebelling against certain aspects of Christmas such as board games or party hats.

A voiceover ends the ad by saying: “This Christmas, do only what you love”.

However, this tongue-in-cheek criticism of the more wasteful or tedious elements of Christmas was not appreciated by Katharine Birbalsingh – the headteacher of Michaela Community School in North London.

In a letter posted to X/Twitter, she said M&S had “put two fingers up” to the values of Christmas.

She wrote: “I feel compelled to write to you to express my deep disappointment and outrage at your Christmas advert for 2023.

“You have a duty as our national department store to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for the sake of our children.

“When our nation is on its knees, trying to keep our spirits high for what we can all achieve together, this is not the time for you to encourage people to ignore the inspirational spirit of Christmas self-sacrifice, gratitude, giving of one’s time and finances to help one’s fellow man, of children’s laughter, of magical tales of Father Christmas, of kindness and of beauty, and instead tell us ‘to do whatever we want for ourselves’.

“I run an inner-city school in London, where we try hard to instil values of decency daily in our children.

“When Marks and Spencer puts two fingers up to these values, it makes our lives as teachers much more difficult and it stifles social mobility and happiness for our children, in particular for the disadvantaged.

“Ebeneezer Scrooge says: ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year’.

“So should we all. Scrooge teaches us the valued of charity and generosity of spirit. On that fateful night, he learns that selfishness is not what Christmas is about.

“Rather than teach our children to build a chain to weigh them down for eternity, you should be showing us the way, with heartening adverts celebrating the values which Scrooge comes to embody.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf's family successfully escape Gaza via Egypt

“How can you do this to our country at such a time as this?! Shame on you!

“May God, or Allah, or Vishnu take pity on you!

“I look to the heavens and ask that you be visited by the three ghosts who can perhaps shine a light on your duty to help pave the way for our children to learn how to live a life filled more with giving, rather than taking.”

In a manner appropriate for a headmistress, she finished by scolding the retail chain and encouraging them to re-do the advert.

“Please take that advert down,” she said. “Try again. You can do better.”

She then encouraged others to complain, claiming "this is a fight for everything we should believe in". 

READ MORE: 'Astonishing' 2000-year old Roman road discovered in Scottish garden

Earlier this year Birbalsingh quit her government role as chair of the Social Mobility Commission, saying some of her “controversial” statements put the commission in jeopardy.

Indeed, she has previously faced criticism for saying that girls tend not to choose physics at A-level because “there’s a lot of hard maths” and claiming that all children are born with “original sin” and must be “habituated into choosing good or evil”.

Following the death of Tina Turner, Birbalsingh also posted a picture of the singer with her abusive ex-husband Ike along with the caption "Good times". 

She later blamed an "ill-functioning gif" for the incident. 

Marks and Spencer’s has been contacted for comment.