WE’RE hurtling into what is usually called “the season of goodwill” so perhaps this year we could actually spread some individually.

Don’t get me wrong – I know that many people are wonderfully generous all year round and make a special effort at Christmas. Local charities and voluntary organisations could not function without this constant goodwill – certainly, many which provide services rely on the practical commitment of people giving their time and effort regularly.

What perhaps we could all buy into this year is a bit more kindness. Go onto any social media site – or even, sometimes, the Bolton News’ and other newspapers’ websites – and it’s plain that we now no longer hide or dilute our feelings.

We feel able to criticise people in the most extreme, personal ways without any real reason other than because we can, hiding behind the coward’s shield of anonymity. We have an opinion so, dammit, we’ll express it and never mind the consequences to other people’s feelings.

I firmly believe, however, that most people are basically good. Witness the behaviour of Parisians in supporting each other when horrific disaster strikes. And take a look at how the rest of the world – including this country – has shown its support for them, too. It is genuinely heartwarming.

Six year-old Thomas Webb who offered to pay for a vandalised Little Lever playground with the pocket money he had been saving up for three years. My friend Karen Openshaw who, in last Saturday’s bitterly cold weather, quietly bought hot soup for a couple of homeless men she spotted on the street. Our town is full of people automatically helping others out of the goodness of their hearts.

Unfortunately, because Christmas is a commercial holiday and all about enjoying ourselves and excess, it’s not always a time for sharing – our hard-earned cash or, more importantly, our time.

We don’t all have to do what the remarkable Mercury Hotel in Westhoughton is doing and open our doors to lonely or isolated people on Christmas Day to give them a hot meal and some festive cheer. But we can make some simple efforts to be kinder to others, to share at least in some way what our own families are having this Christmas. To make a small effort to give back goodwill when we have been lucky enough to receive it.

Surely, that is the true spirit of this time of year.