Laurence Andrews

Well, it looks like Michael Gove drew Ebenezer in this year’s Christmas Carol as he announced the policies and procedures that must be followed to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

It’s certainly going to make for an interesting Andrews family Christmas with our four split-parent families, two grandparents and grown-up sibling families. Barely any of whom we’ve seen this year.

Perhaps we should draw names on a Zoom call - that seems the most fair approach if you ask me.

I can’t help but feel that this is all a little bit silly, even if you ignore the obvious comedy of Gove explaining how Christmas Bubbles will work. The rules are unenforceable, so people are either diligently following them to the letter or bending them to suit their own agenda.

I’m resolutely in support of the tier system (although think 1 and 3 need to be far more extreme) but can’t help but think that this Christmas thing is just a big ‘ol Boris bodge job.

Anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine. More than ever, let’s hope for a white Christmas - that’ll throw a spanner in the works.