Santa Claus has been accused of acting in ways that could “damage millions of lives”.

As the mythical man in red zooms around the planet delivering gifts, he is an unwitting promoter of obesity, unhealthy products, disease and even drink driving, according to an Australian academic.

“Other dangerous activities that Santa could be accused of promoting include speeding, disregard for road rules and extreme sports such as roof surfing and chimney jumping,” said Dr Nathan Grills, public health fellow at Monash University’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine.
“Despite the risks of high speed air travel, Santa is never depicted wearing a seatbelt or helmet.”
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“We need to be aware that Santa has an ability to influence people, and especially children, towards unhealthy behaviour,” he said.

“Given Santa’s universal appeal, and reasoning from a public health perspective, Santa needs to affect health by only 0.1 per cent to damage millions of lives.”

Instead using a sleigh, Santa should be “encouraged to adopt a more active method to deliver toys – swapping his reindeer for a bike or simply walking or jogging”, Dr Grills said.

Santa jogging. Give me a break.