Comment With....barry Speker

Good tidings he brought, Good news of a sort?' This was our PM avoiding being a modern day embodiment of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. No latter day Ebenezer Scrooge is Boris. When announcing the 'time limited Christmas dispensation' he issued a warning not to blow the fight against the virus, which is not going to declare a Christmas truce. Said the PM, 'Yuletide will be the season to be jolly careful!'

So vaccine or no vaccine, the tier system or worse will be with us for some time. It is an unenviable struggle to balance the economic interests of thousands of threatened businesses, countless jobs lost or in jeopardy with the concerns of the elderly and vulnerable in the face of considerable risk, severe illness and death. There are still calls by some for Christmas to be cancelled this year but fortunately some celebration is now officially authorised. We can gather three families together for up to five days, to overeat, drink to excess and argue about everything from what not to watch and who bought that awful present? Think of the strife. But will this mean I may have to go and actually watch Newcastle United again? To some such as Cliff Richard, Christmas is about Mistletoe and Wine. Not this year. We must stick with the wine because the dangers of kissing strangers or anyone under the mistletoe may attract the attention of the Covid police. The Tenbury Wells mistletoe auction, held for the last 160 years, has been cancelled. If you see any mistletoe make sure it is socially distanced and has a warning sign. Fortunately the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Regulations 2020 allowed the lockdown opening of shops, stalls and farms selling natural Christmas trees, essential goods. The arrival of an effective and reliable vaccine is the only saviour for the country and the world. It is a credit to the scientists to have produced this (nearly) within a break neck schedule compared with the usual time taken for such developments. The logistics of vaccinating millions of people are daunting. Will there now be a Vaccine Tsar to take control and achieve this? Delivery, storage and administration of two doses to these millions, selecting the acceptable priority and sequences, persuading the vulnerable and the unconvinced. There will be problems with the conspiracy theorists, the 5G hoaxers and lunatic anti-vaxers as well as those denying the effectiveness until more research guarantees the vaccines are 100% safe and effective. The government needs to ensure public confidence in the process so that allegations of delay and criticisms of incompetence with care homes, test and trace, changes in lockdown restrictions, confusion with graphs, data and statistics do not obstruct the mass vaccination. And the 2021 Vaccine Tsar is……….? The sounds of Christmas may be slightly restricted as woke purists have attacked the nation’s favourite seasonal song – no, not White Christmas although that may be next. It is Fairy Tale of New York from which Radio 1 has excised the words ‘slut’ and ‘faggot’ although the song is uncensored on Radio 2 and Radio 6 Music. Is the theory that oldies would not be offended but millennials will be? The song by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl is about a couple on their uppers uttering insults at their state and fate: ‘You’re a bum, you’re a punk You’re an old slut on junk Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed, You scumbag you maggot You cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray God it’s your last.’ The 1987 song is tame compared with the lyrics of many modern raps. It is somewhat pretentious that Radio 1 thinks millennials need protection from a nasty word. Sean MacGowan said he could not think of another word to rhyme with maggot! Such prurient censorship now affects the British Library which has compiled a dossier of 300 individuals and institutions which may have ‘benefitted from colonialism and slavery’. The poet Ted Hughes (poet laureate in 1984) is included. He owned no slaves but an ancestor, Nicholas Ferrar born in 1592 was involved with the London Virginia Company – a mere 428 years ago. Ferrar died childless in 1687, so hardly an ancestor at all. The museum has apologised to Hughes’ widow. Christmas fare should be enhanced this year following the detailed instructions from Nigella Lawson on how to create double buttered toast with a sprinkling of sea salt. This can be combined with the classic recipe from Delia Smith concerning how to boil an egg. A real change from the complications of ordering a take out on Deliveroo, complete with sprouts, parsnips and Christmas pudding. Merry Christmas to you all and best wishes for a Happy 2021, escaping from Netflix and reengaging with the outside world.