As dynamicv has already noted, this situation - if there's anything more than a grain of truth in the article - has more likely resulted from the rising culture of litigation in the UK. For that, I blame the Americans.
I'll agree with that assessment. We have too many lawyers looking to leech off other peoples' earnings, or at least to make sure that no subset of the population seems more happy than another.
While the original article mentions specific examples of decorations banned because of fear of injuries and subsequent lawsuits, that did not seem the focus of the article. The survey mentioned was also news on other sources than the maligned Murdoch media:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061205/wl_uk_afp/afplifestylebritain
And FYI, regarding "Xmas"... according to the American Heritage Dictionary: "Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Christ. In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, Christian. But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening ... Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas."
Meanwhile, I'll be signing my kid's permission form to attend the public school's (non-mandatory) "Multicultural Holiday Program", the intent of which is "to extol the joy that is derived from learning about other people, their traditions and their cultures." Not, of course, to celebrate one's own faith. That would just invite a lawsuit.
