Exactly. If Johnson said dont mix households he'd be a 'nazi'. He is treating people like grown ups and said be very careful and keep it to a minimum.
I think in a global pandemic, he sadly has to suck the reputational hit up. He hasn’t led well enough to have the authority he needs to make people listen, as evidenced in people’s behaviour now, so he can’t bleakly issue guidance and ask people to do the right thing again. They won’t. We’ve reached the stage where compliance is low generally because it’s been too long, and everyone thinks they and their family are a special case, and they won’t get it anyway. Nobody can see past having a glimpse of normality with people around to the impending chaos that it will cause. The threats of people you know dying have worn thin - either people know someone who died and are now “living for the moment” and “not wasting any more time”, or they don’t know anyone who died so they’ve decided it can’t be that bad.
The government has to tell people what to do now because there’s no other way. MN has had high compliance with the rules overall - the fact that the tide has turned here should indicate how bad it is nationally.
It’s not a fun way to lead and it isn’t building the reputation Boris wants to leave, but it’s what needs to be done now.
That said, I don’t think anything but a lockdown now would affect what people do at Christmas, and I think the government already knows we’ll be in one early next year anyway, so I can’t see them doing much. Perhaps a press conference again asking people to minimise contacts.