Have yourselves a merry little Christmas, British PM Johnson says

[webfact]

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas, British PM Johnson says

By Guy Faulconbridge and William James

 

People sit on a tour bus as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in London, Britain, December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that people should plan only for a "merry little Christmas" and exercise extreme caution but he refused to outlaw festive family gatherings as COVID-19 cases soared across swathes of Britain.

 

After imposing the most onerous restrictions in Britain's peacetime history, Johnson is now keen to avoid becoming the first leader since Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century to cancel Christmas, even though the United Kingdom has the sixth worst official COVID-19 death toll in the world.

 

Hours after pubs and restaurants were forced to close again in London and some other areas to tackle a worsening outbreak, Johnson said plans to ease restrictions for five days from Dec. 23 would go ahead but urged people to be careful.

 

"It would not be right, we think, to criminalise people who have made plans and simply want to spend time with their loved ones," Johnson told reporters at a Downing Street briefing, adding that a smaller Christmas would be a safer Christmas.

 

"Have yourselves a merry little Christmas," Johnson said, using the title of the popular jingle sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical "Meet Me in St Louis", and later recorded by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Michael Buble.

Johnson's plans to relax restrictions for five days so three households can mix have been criticised by two influential medical journals.

 

Medical views are mixed on whether or not Christmas should be cancelled. There is also growing concern among, for example, oncologists that many cancers are going undiagnosed due to the public health focus on COVID-19.

 

COVID-19 has battered the United Kingdom: The government's most conservative death toll measure is 65,520, second only to Italy in Europe, while government borrowing is set to hit a peacetime high of 394 billion pounds ($531 billion) in 2020/21.

 

Official data showed another 25,161 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, up more than a third from a day earlier, and the highest level since mid-November, with another 612 deaths.

 

PARTY OR LOCKDOWN?

One cabinet minister suggested people should make up their own minds about what precautions to take, and said some may want to wait for Easter to gather with their family, given the risk to the elderly and other vulnerable groups.

 

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said it was not for government to tell people exactly how to behave.

 

"Easter can be the new Christmas for some people," he said.

 

The leaders of Scotland and Wales, which set their own often-stricter rules, urged people to show restraint. Wales also toughened general restrictions further.

 

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has raised hopes that some semblance of normal life could return in 2021, though some families say they will meet up for Christmas regardless of what the government decrees.

 

A total of 137,897 people have been vaccinated in the past week, Nadhim Zahawi, the minister in charge of vaccine deployment, said on Wednesday.

 

But as cases soared across the south of England, London went into the highest tier of lockdown from midnight. Large parts of northern England have spent months living with the toughest restrictions.

 

The highest tier means that pubs and restaurants are closed, but shops are not. Still, revellers partied into the night in central London's Soho district ahead of the restrictions.

 

One woman waved purple burlesque feather fans while dozens cheered with beers and some sang karaoke in the streets for one last blast of revelry.

 

Few people wore masks or observed social-distancing guidelines. Police were booed when they told people to disperse.

 

Some pubs and bars - one displaying a sign "Save Soho to help save livelihoods" - put on cut-price drinks to shift stock before they closed. From Wednesday they are only allowed to serve takeaways.

 

Landlords and owners have complained that they risk going out of business without the Christmas trade.

 

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton, editing by Angus MacSwan, Gareth Jones and Alexandra Hudson)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-17

 

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[Bluespunk]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Johnson said plans to ease restrictions for five days from Dec. 23 would go ahead but urged people to be careful.

 

Hmm, because people are always well behaved after a few drinks...

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Few people wore masks or observed social-distancing guidelines. Police were booed when they told people to disperse.

 

 

[Scot123]

I'm just so disgusted at how meek the British people have become. This all started from a lie and that lie perpetuated by a man who has done this 7 times costing the country billions with his lies "Niel Ferguson ". 7 emergency Nightingale hospitals set up to massive fanfare and quietly closed unused. So, the NHS never needed saving yet we still have little Hitler's in the police and local governments incarcerating and fining the public... Power, power, power and they wont give it up. If you think 2020 was bad just wait for 2021. Oh and what flew over most peoples heads was the utter contempt these called elite have for the public TELLING THEM HOW TO WASH THEIR HANDS! <deleted>!

[RuamRudy]

I think the Mirror has got it spot on here - a weak and incompetent PM who is afraid to do what is right so just tries to shift the blame onto the public. Without a doubt he is the least capable PM ever to hold office. 

 

 

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, Scot123 said:

I'm just so disgusted at how meek the British people have become. This all started from a lie and that lie perpetuated by a man who has done this 7 times costing the country billions with his lies "Niel Ferguson ". 7 emergency Nightingale hospitals set up to massive fanfare and quietly closed unused. So, the NHS never needed saving yet we still have little Hitler's in the police and local governments incarcerating and fining the public... Power, power, power and they wont give it up. If you think 2020 was bad just wait for 2021. Oh and what flew over most peoples heads was the utter contempt these called elite have for the public TELLING THEM HOW TO WASH THEIR HANDS! <deleted>!

What lie would that be?

[RuamRudy]

8 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

What lie would that be?

 

Over 76,000 'lies' apparently. 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths

 

 

[Thingamabob]

2 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

I think the Mirror has got it spot on here - a weak and incompetent PM who is afraid to do what is right so just tries to shift the blame onto the public. Without a doubt he is the least capable PM ever to hold office. 

 

 

Rubbish.

[placeholder]

26 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

Rubbish.

I was thinking the Mirror was spot on until I read your rebuttal.

[JonnyF]

Merry Christmas to all parliamentarians too.

 

Recess starts today. Enjoy your holiday. See you on January 5th.

 

No need to rush back. Nothing of value to debate.

 

 

 

 

[kickstart]

3 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

I think the Mirror has got it spot on here - a weak and incompetent PM who is afraid to do what is right so just tries to shift the blame onto the public. Without a doubt he is the least capable PM ever to hold office. 

 

 

The Mirror has a point , the government have made a pig's ear of it all ,but what would they say if it was a Labour PM.

[from the home of CC]

On 12/17/2020 at 4:05 PM, Bluespunk said:

 

Hmm, because people are always well behaved after a few drinks...

 

 

 

if the government really put people first (and not the liquid crack establishments) alcohol sales would of ceased till the whole country had a manageable case load for test/trace. The trouble would be moving all the bodies out of the streets from the mass suicides..

[Bruntoid]

Buying presents for the kids at Christmas must be a nightmare for poor ol bojo given he doesn’t know how many he’s got. ! That bastion of moral fortitude!