Over the past 18 years, the launch of the John Lewis Christmas advert has established itself as a key point in the UK’s festive calendar, said Ed Davies in the FT . The ads are, of course, designed to be miniature weepies – to create a warm fuzzy feeling towards Britain’s favourite department store; but for many fathers of teenage boys (and some mothers too), this year’s has hit especially hard.

Shameless tearjerker

Set in a middle-class home, the ad is about a man who finds under the tree a last unopened gift, from his silent, headphone-wearing son. It is a vinyl copy of Alison Limerick’s 1990 club hit “Where Love Lives”, and it transports dad back to a 1990s rave, said The Guardian ; the pace then changes and dad, now alone in a dark space, sees his son as a toddler and a baby. We

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