Welfare, tax and inequality are just some of the things Justin Welby has spoken out against this year.

A YouGov poll for the Times asked whether his interventions were appropriate following criticism from politicians.

44 per cent said they weren’t, 35 per cent said they were with 21 per cent saying they didn’t know.

When asked specifically about what he had said this year, the majority of people sided with him.

Earlier this month, the archbishop denied he had gone too far in his political statements.

Defending himself on the Andrew Marr show on BBC One, he said: “If I really want to read the Bible and what the prophets and what Jesus said – then I haven’t gone too far.

“I’m not party political, i’m not a member of any political party…I simply try to speak from the Christian scriptures about the values Jesus put forward himself.”

In response to the YouGov poll, Lambeth Palace said staying silent would be like ripping out whole sections of the Bible: “The archbishop has been asked by some to stay out of politics.

“His response is that is not what Jesus did. No wing of party politics, left or right, can claim God as being on its side.

“But Jesus was highly political and if we are to follow him then we must share his concern for justice, and for the poorest and most vulnerable.”

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Greater Manchester Police is investigating the blaze at Heaton Park Methodist Church on Bury Old Road, at around 8pm on Saturday.

The building was severely damaged in the fire, while several computer items were also stolen.

Rev Jez Hackett told the Press Association: “Thankfully the fire seems to have been contained to just one room, the prayer room, but this is obviously a pretty nasty thing to happen, particularly at this time of year.

“We have had to cancel services at this church, although thankfully the Prestwich Methodist Church is just down the road so we will be moving services there.

“But we also run a night shelter for refugees and offer food for children on free school meals, so we don’t know what is going to happen with that now.”

He said insurers were due to visit the church in the coming days, but did not expect the church to re-open until at least mid-January.

Chief Inspector Jamie Collins, of GMP’s Bury borough, said: “There’s no way to describe the offenders’ actions, other than to say they were disgusting.

“To break into a church, set a fire and then steal valuables would be bad enough any other time of the year but to do it a few days before Christmas, which is a time when many people turn to their church, is nothing short of disgusting.

“I know this incident will cause a lot of upset locally but I want to reassure the people of Bury that we are…

In a long statement on the band’s website, front man Jon Foreman announced the “sobering news”.

He said: “I got a call from Jerome a few weeks ago. He was calling with sobering news: he has cancer.

“One of Jerome’s kidneys has a large mass on it that has been growing for quite some time.

“The good news is that the cancer has not spread to his other organs. Removing one of his kidneys will hopefully be the first and final cure for Jerome’s fight with cancer.

“The surgeons and the medical team have been incredibly accommodating, making sure that the surgery was scheduled as soon as possible.”

Fontamillas, 51, joined the band back in 2003.

In a note to fans, he said: “We’ve been through so much as a band. This is just one more mountain to climb, one more storm to weather. I know we’ll get to the other side.

“And I look forward to having more reasons to be thankful when all of this is behind us. We will give you an update when we have news to tell you.

“Thanks again for years of love and support. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you, we look forward to telling you some good news in the near future.”

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Even the giant teddy bear at the entrance was not spared, said Ma Jun, who works at a tutoring company in the building.

“Everything is gone and cleaned,” she said.

Christmas continues to be a shopping festival across most of China, with huge trees adorning shopping centres in Shanghai and Beijing.

But a growing emphasis on traditional culture by the ruling Communist Party, and the systematic suppression of religion under President Xi Jinping are imperilling Father Christmas’s position.

At least four Chinese cities and one county have banned Christmas decorations this year, according to official notices and interviews.

Students, teachers and parents from schools around China told The Associated Press that Christmas celebrations have been curtailed.

“The ongoing local reaction against Christmas is part of the wider sentiment since Xi took power,” said Zi Yang, from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Xi is trying to broaden the appeal of the Communist Party by casting it as a crusader for Chinese tradition in a fast-changing world, he said.

“Therefore, foreign cultural elements such as Christmas are placed on the chopping block.”

It appears not to be centrally organised, but rather a spreading resistance to foreign festivals by local authorities seeking to align themselves with the growing tide of cultural nationalism.

The squeeze on Christmas…

While the rest of the media was getting caught up in the Brexit chaos, here at Premier we were at the Supreme Court as Belfast based Ashers Bakery won the right to refuse to make cakes promoting gay marriage.

While the rest of the media were monitoring every word which left the mouth of President Trump, here at Premier we were hearing from Christians in Pakistan celebrating the release of Asia Bibi.

While the rest of the media were caught up in the mocking of Theresa May’s dancing, here at Premier we were speaking to guests attending the funeral of Billy Graham.

I say that, not to belittle the important news (dancing aside!) from what has been a year dominated by politics, but to showcase the very different product that we offer here at Premier to other news outlets.

The team works very hard to ensure we cover the issues directly affecting Christians around the world, enabling you to be informed but also showing how you can be praying into these stories.

Across the year, we’ve covered close to 3,000 stories. Some will have inspired you, some will have angered you, some of them will have made you smile – as long as they’re creating some form of response we’re doing something right!

We were really interested to see the ten most popular articles of the year and surprised not see some of the stories you may have expected to be there.

We often predict which stories will…