Blue Christmas

Wringing the last of the festive spirit out of the cold, soiled rag that is mid-January, research this week showed that the period between Crimbo and new year always sees a big increase in internet users' interest in filth.

Figures gleaned from Google Trends by security vendor Eset show the number of UK searches for the word "porn" always goes up sharply during the post-Christmas lull. Eset puts this down to people test-driving new gadgets by seeing if they'll handle a bit of astonishingly explicit depravity without compromising picture or audio quality.

But be warned: the Twixtmas (big shudder) period is not all fun, frolics and festive fornicating. Eset advises hairy-palmed web users that smut brings with it the risk of online nasties.

If only someone made some kind of preventative technology, an "anti-virus solution", if you will. We can but dream.