As if. This was the Official No Trousers Tube Ride, an annual event with no point other than injecting a little levity into the bleak midwinter. No deep meaning, no bigger motive. The only goal ...

We’re a little way from the “bleak mid-winter” (however one chooses to define it), but this time of year — the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas — always seems “bleak” to me.