Be Careful and Cautious: Britons Warned to Be Wary at Christmas by Health Director

Family together, holidays, New Year's preparations during lockdown.
Vitalii Petrushenko / Getty Images
Oliver JJ Lane

North Britons have been warned against having too much fun at Christmas by the devolved Scottish government’s National Clinical Director, who has called on the public to be as “careful and as cautious as you can be”.

Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s National Clinical Director poured cold water on hopes for a worry-free, normal Christmas day in comments to the Scottish edition of state broadcaster the BBC when he admitted that it was not possible at this time for the government to ban Christmas outright, nevertheless, the public should restrain themselves voluntarily.

The health director told the broadcaster: “How you do that is up to you, but we’re asking you to be as careful and as cautious as you can be” and that he believed Northern Britons would do as they were told by the government, enunciating his belief that they would not “throw caution to the wind”.

While new lockdowns for the majority of Britons have been reasonably modest compared to Christmas 2020, for the minority that live in the devolved administrations including Scotland, which has a left-wing-nationalist-separatist government led by Nicola Sturgeon, Christmas advice is stricter. The Scottish devolved government has issued guidance to residents that family should, if possible, only meet two other households around Christmas time and should limit the amount of time they spend socialising.

The guidance for Christmas day itself carries no less Scrooge energy in its scope, with Britons subject to the Scottish government told to, it is reported, “keep celebrations as small as family circumstances allow”, that all attendees of Christmas celebrations should be vaccinated, and that rooms should be “well-ventilated” — no mean feat in December when energy prices, and consequently the price of heating, is rising.

Rules will tighten after Christmas itself, with restrictions on venue capacities and social distancing enforced. As rules presently stand, nightclubs will be banned from opening in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland on New Year’s Eve, with only England allowing citizens the right to see in the New Year in such a way.

That situation may not persist, however. Reports suggest the government will be meeting immediately after Christmas to discuss new lockdowns which may well be in place near-immediately, if not within days.

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