Laura chats to Adam about reports that Christmas parties were held in Downing Street at the height of last year’s lockdown. The BBCs Hugh Pym and Branwen Jeffreys join Adam to discuss whether festivities and school nativities will go ahead this year. We hear views from the picket line as university staff go on a three-day strike over pay, working conditions and pensions. Adam brings you Newscast’s very own – and very brief – version of Radio 4’s ‘The Reith Lectures’. It’s all about AI. And as advent calendars are opened, Adam invents his own version, ‘the badvent calendar’, a collection of the most cringeworthy moments of 2021. Please share yours: [email protected] This episode of Newscast was made by Ros Jones with Georgia Coan, Ben Cooper, Alix Pickles and Sally Abrahams. The editor was Jonathan Aspinwall. The studio manager was Michael Regaard

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.