Sure this is a good idea, PM?
MILLIONS of Brits will be rightly furious that their Christmas has been cancelled.
Just days ago, Boris Johnson vowed to maintain the Christmas bubbles over the festive season because it would be “inhuman” to axe them.
But by plunging London and much of the south east into a tough new tier 4, he has crushed hopes of festive reunions and wrecked costly plans made by hard-up families.
The Prime Minister has also split the country on Christmas Day.
In some areas mixed groups will celebrate while yards away others will be barred from seeing loved ones.
This is the harshest and most heartbreaking decision Boris has made during a horrible year and it comes as a cruel blow to everyone hoping for a little merriment to lift the gloom.
He and his scientists are terrified by the new strain of the virus in the east of the country.
Of course Boris must act to save lives, and other parts of Europe are taking similar steps.
But he cannot repeat the mistake he made in imposing the rushed second lockdown of seven weeks ago.
That followed forecasts of 4,000 deaths a day — figures which proved unreliable and were soon retracted.
Boris himself later felt he had been bounced into taking over-zealous measures that wrecked the economy.
It will be far worse if the new warnings prove wrong.
If this new strain has broken out in other countries, why can’t we have more details about how they coped?
Questions also need to be asked about the lack of hospital staff to cope with rising numbers of cases.
Vacancies for nursing posts are at 36,655 and those for medical jobs are at 7,502.
As a result the £220million emergency Nightingale hospitals could be left idle — an appalling waste.
In the meantime hundreds more businesses will collapse and thousands will lose their jobs.
We understand why Boris feels he must take drastic steps to prevent another surge of Covid casualties.
But he cannot afford the scientific statistics to be wrong again.
The nation will never forgive a Prime Minister who cancelled Christmas on the basis of dodgy science.
