Let’s pull together to help those in need
THELAST British leader to cancel Christmas was Oliver Cromwell 376 years ago and, while he was in his own way a great leader, that decision has played a part in leaving him with a rather tarnished legacy.
But the puritanical instincts of Cromwell are very different to the ones of Boris Johnson who did all he could to keep the festive period festive.
Sadly, as one of his predecessors in Downing Street, Harold Macmillan, once noted “events, dear boy, events” mean that politicians are forced to make difficult changes in policy.
This is certainly the case with Mr Johnson, who was apparently faced with fresh evidence from his chief scientists that a new strain of coronavirus which originated in Kent meant that it is spreading at an accelerating rate.
Given the evidence, perhaps the Prime Minister was left with little choice but to cancel a family Christmas for more than 16 million people and restrict it for the rest of England to one day instead of five.
As he said, it is better to forego Christmas this year to ensure that we can enjoy many more in the future.
That said, the Government has produced very little evidence – apart from slides shown at yesterday’s press conference – to back up this new draconian policy.
MPS are also right to question why the Government waited until Parliament was no longer sitting to bring in these new measures when the strain had been identified early last week.
Many people who made plans after a difficult year will be very upset. Many will now spend Christmas alone at a time when we know that even in normal years such an experience causes severe mental health problems.
Think too of the high street shopowners who have been robbed of their busiest week of the year.
The Tory Blue Collar Movement’s Buy British campaign in 2021, highlighted in today’s newspaper, will be even more important to help some of our struggling businesses recover.
As we head towards the new year, with soon possibly more than one vaccine spreading its benefits, the Government will need to harken to the herald voices of MPS such as Mark Harper in the Covid Research Group of MPS that it needs to produce hard evidence to continue to justify tiers and restrictions.
As more people in vulnerable groups get the vaccine, restrictions should become less necessary. Indeed the state needs to explain why the whole population has to have a vaccination before it can lower the restrictions.
In the meantime, wherever Express readers are, we hope they have as happy a Christmas as possible in these troubling circumstances.
We would also like to remind people that a telephone or Zoom call to someone on their own can bring much festive joy.
So let’s continue the stalwart spirit of 2020 – embodied by Captain Sir Tom Moore – to the end, pull together as a nation and help out those who most need it.