Last updated at 12:07, Friday, 30 October 2009

Christmas is coming and it’s already almost time for panic-buying badly-made lumps of plastic for young ‘uns that will break, snap and end up in the back of the wardrobe by New Year.

The Toy Retailers Association (TRA) has announced its ‘Dream Dozen’ must-have toys for this Christmas, mostly a fine selection of plastic products from the Far East.

They include the usual TV spin-offs, appalling ‘cuddly’ animals, fast cars and reboots of old favourites.

Transformers, Thunderbirds and Mutant Ninja Turtles come and go, but LEGO, Monopoly and Sylvanian families are always among the top toys every year.

Monopoly has been rebranded Monopoly City.

This is a tweak on the traditional and much-loved family board game that always ends with someone in tears, another sulking in the kitchen, one person with all the money and someone else re-reading the rules a fifth time (well, it does in our house).

Judging by the name, I thought it was an ill-timed move to bring it more in line with the banking industry.

I thought the tweak would be for one person to be given most of the money, then spend it all and ask for more money from all the other players who would then work for him for next to nothing.

Instead, it turns out to be a competition to build Manhattan-style plastic towers in the centre of the board, rather than little green houses or red hotels on properties. Sounds rubbish.

I suppose they’ve done away with the old boot, dog, battleship, iron, top hat and racing car that I used to play with...

Now it will be a bottle of champagne, a lap dancer, a yacht, an expenses form, a Monaco flat and a moral compass.

First published at 11:36, Thursday, 29 October 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk