To not understand why entire government policy seems to be about one day in December

[Dishwashersaurous]

Either we are in the middle of a pandemic and restrictions on visiting and life are essential. Or they are not.

If they are then why is it even being considered to ease/stop them for one day

Perhaps they assume people will get together over Christmas regardless of the rules so they may as well plan for it to happen - people will then accept another lockdown in Jan as we had a relaxation of rules for Christmas. They then look positive as they’ve ‘allowed’ Christmas.

No idea. Concerns me headlines and click bait media are having any impact with obsession on saving Christmas tawdry line

It is indeed Christmas. That started as a Christian festival. The clue is in the name.

And it is a white Northern European festival that is being ‘saved’ Despite living in a multi cultural society. Did Boris do this for other festivals? No he didn’t.

Why is Christmas more important than other festivals? Oh hang on.... because it’s celebrated by white people.

It’s pointless opening up Xmas. It will just increase the spread.

It’s a distraction from Brexit and enables the media, particularly the BBC, to waffle on in a content-free manner without actually thinking about anything they say or write, which is what they and most of their audience prefer.

Well, they can't exactly ignore it, can they?
Christmas is coming, it's the number one public holiday/celebration in the UK, it's heavily commercialised, and it's not going to disappear because of covid-19. So they do need to come up with a strategy to manage it as safely as possible.
At least we don't celebrate thanksgiving in the UK, or any other potential superspreading event in the interval. That is going to cause massive problems in the US, but at least we have 5 weeks to drive infections down further and hopefully get started on vaccinating some very vulnerable people.

@UniversalHadIt ideas, but no certainty. None of the ideas have been agreed by the EU.
I work in an industry where we advise clients and we have to say it might be a) and it might be b) clients get angry that with 6 weeks to go we don't know which.

because it's celebrated by white people
I think you'll find that christmas is also celebrated by many black people, and possibly many people of Asian origin too.

Yeah it is. But there was still no rush the save other ‘festivals’

@Dishwashersaurous I absolutely agree with you.

I’ve had two big events this year that have had to be cancelled, we’re in the middle of a pandemic though so although disappointed I absolutely understand why.

The thought of relaxing restrictions over Christmas really fills me with dread tbh. There will be families who feel torn, not wanting to visit their vulnerable relatives etc but would feel that they had to if over five days they could. How would they then feel if vulnerable relative ended up in hospital three weeks later, all down to that one visit! Then there will be those who have to pick which relatives to invite, especially if it’s a six bubble for example.

My thoughts are, it’s one day. Is it really worth it!

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince how is it racism?

So should we also celebrate thanksgiving and all the other holidays that other nationalities and ethnicities do? We would have holidays all year if the case.

There is no national holiday for Eid and Diwali usually so why should there be now?

@BeaufortScale

It really stings - I’m preparing for a zoom Hanukkah, after a zoom Passover. Colleagues have missed Diwali and Eid. And we know it will make January worse than it might have been.

Same. I haven't been to shul since March!

"Because despite all the promises and false hope there has been no vaccine approved yet." promising to make a vaccine isn't like promising to do the washing up. It's something you work towards.

The world has 13 vaccines in stage 3 with I believe 3 applying for approval to start using them in the next few weeks. How many vaccines did you want?

@flaviaritt

Because it is fundamentally important for people to have something to look forward to, or they give up.

^ This.

They need votes, the voters who vote for them have grandchildren that they wouldn't otherwise be able to see, it's all about politics, nothing else.

A government less reliant on over 50 wealthy white people would not be doing the same things.

A media less reliant on over 50 wealthy white people would also not be asking the same questions or portraying the same responses in the same light.

[quote EmmaWithTheGreatHair]@Dishwashersaurous I absolutely agree with you.

I’ve had two big events this year that have had to be cancelled, we’re in the middle of a pandemic though so although disappointed I absolutely understand why.

The thought of relaxing restrictions over Christmas really fills me with dread tbh. There will be families who feel torn, not wanting to visit their vulnerable relatives etc but would feel that they had to if over five days they could. How would they then feel if vulnerable relative ended up in hospital three weeks later, all down to that one visit! Then there will be those who have to pick which relatives to invite, especially if it’s a six bubble for example.

My thoughts are, it’s one day. Is it really worth it![/quote]
Luckily, it's not going to be compulsory then. People can decide independently of government advice to carry on shielding their vulnerable relatives and to celebrate christmas with just their own households. Just like we didn't all go out to pubs and restaurants when they were open.

Because i haven't seen my dd since September, she's only 19. I don't care if it Dec 25 or not but I want to spend time with her, I'm unemployed, she's part of a study with weekly testing so we do not have Covid

@feelingverylazytoday I know it’s not going to be compulsory but people will feel torn!

TheEmoji - you are so misguided if you perceive Christmas as a white occasion! Everyone I know in the UK celebrates Christmas in some way. Most of them are not Christians.

Because the economy needs money spent and the gov needs a distraction from Brexit.

I’m getting scared reading Sunak talk about economic shock coming and finding that very hard to reconcile with the idea that we have to pay with 5 days more lockdown for each day ‘off’ at Christmas. Protecting the economy and jobs all year round seems more important than one short Christmas respite period. It won’t be enough time off for a lot of people so it will be controversial and won’t give the government the instant popularity lift they are hoping for- we aren’t all allowed to take work leave over Xmas, hiked up short notice travel costs will be prohibitive for lots of people, in any case there will be finite ability to travel on services within the required dates etc.

Plus it would say more about ‘all being in this together’ to not lift restrictions at Christmas given other religions’s festivals and Easter, were required to remain under restrictions. The older people in my family are talking about still probably not doing much different from lockdown anyway over Xmas, because they are really worried about catching Covid at a time of year when they are well aware that the hospitals already struggle to cope. In the previous Spring lockdown the NHS didn’t have the background yearly pressure of falls on ice, seasonal flus etc.

Last August, they introduced what is now called tier 2 in Manchester two hours before the start of Eid. Imagine them doing the same on Christmas Eve. Short notice order for no household mixing just prior to a big family focussed religious festival.
This Christmas stuff is just a distraction from how badly they are handling everything. More people in the uK notice Christmas so they are asking us to be a big focus group before making a decision

" The world has 13 vaccines in stage 3 with I believe 3 applying for approval to start using them in the next few weeks. How many vaccines did you want "

one... just the one...

Approved and ready to mass vaccinate before "summer (2021)" which is the latest SAGE prediction.

I think they’ll want to lift restrictions so the economic stress afterwards can be blamed on Covid and not on Brexit. Which sums it up really. How can a responsible government risk having a no deal Brexit with chaos affecting food and medicine supply at a time of global pandemic and major economic instability?

55million people celebrate Xmas in every part of the UK. It's a national holiday affecting everyone in some way. The risk if we get policy wrong is vast.

It's not racist to have to deal a reality.

@bellinisurge

Last August, they introduced what is now called tier 2 in Manchester two hours before the start of Eid. Imagine them doing the same on Christmas Eve. Short notice order for no household mixing just prior to a big family focussed religious festival. This Christmas stuff is just a distraction from how badly they are handling everything. More people in the uK notice Christmas so they are asking us to be a big focus group before making a decision

For once I think this “leak and see how it goes down” approach might not be so bad - testing the mood of the nation about risks and perceived benefits along with some very well publicised information about what a Christmas easing could cost us might be the best way to reach a decision.

Some more mass on-demand testing would help, but with such high false negatives it might fuel complacency.