Call me Scrooge, but I’m not sure Boris Johnson should save Christmas after all

It turns out that the current government does have a line in the sand when it comes to channelling Dickensian baddies. There was a definite air of Mr Bumble about their willingness to deny the poorest children free school meals over October half-term (“No children, you may not have any more …”) but being cast as the Ebenezer Scrooges of Christmas 2020 seems to be a step too far.

Yes, apparently Boris Johnson and co are busily drawing up plans to “save Christmas” (it feels like there’s a Netflix movie in the making right there) with rumours circulating about extended support bubbles made up of three of four households and a three-day window of celebration to allow the country some much needed respite.

On the one hand, my heart leaps at the little ray of hope this offers. I have beloved nieces and nephews who I am missing desperately – and though we all like to complain about the trials of large family Christmases, the truth is there’s something precious about these chances to be together – especially this year.

But as much as I want to dive, head first, into this seasonal good cheer, I can’t help but retain some distinctively unfestive cynicism about the whole thing.

For starters, both Eid and Diwali seem to have been acceptable sacrifices when it comes to Covid restrictions – and you can forgive people for coming away with the message that following the science matters more for some groups than for others. Making Christmas a special case sends a pretty dubious message about the hierarchy of beliefs and cultural practices in the UK and even if you are convinced by people screeching “but we’re a Christian country”, we aren’t only a Christian country and some earlier action might have given other festivals a chance too.

Then there’s the question hovering above all of this, about the cost of a “Christmas as usual”. In a Covid update this morning Public Health England representative Dr Susan Hopkins suggested that while she hopes Christmas will be "as close to normal as possible", each day of household mixing will need two more of tighter restrictions to keep rates low.

For those of us in reasonably comfortable lockdown positions, perhaps that’s a price worth paying. But I do wonder if we’re the wrong people to be prioritising.

Longer restrictions to counterbalance any seasonal easing mean people who don’t have significant others right now, who don’t have close friends or family and who haven’t been able to seek them out are condemned to longer alone. It means that people who are shielding and too afraid to meet family and friends, no matter what the rules say, will remain isolated for greater periods. It means, in all probability, that infection rates will increase – and some of those we might enjoy seeing on Christmas Day this year, might not be around for Christmas Day next year.  

With Covid rates still high, how much long-term pain are we willing to suffer in order to gain the short-term comfort of seeing our loved ones?

Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s essential that nobody is condemned to Christmas alone when there are other options available. And if restrictions are eased I have no interest whatsoever in narratives that seek to lay the blame at the people going along with the rules rather than the government making them. There are balances to be struck given many people might be tempted to break the tightest restrictions for Christmas anyway – and if I were less sceptical about this government’s motivations, I might feel better about many of these plans.

But where the free school meals scandal provoked outrage because the government was leaving the most vulnerable to fend for themselves (poor people don’t vote Tory anyway right?), this latest move seems designed to privilege the already privileged. (Let’s face it – plenty of middle-class families who want Christmas with all the trimmings are the kind of voters the Conservatives are traditionally keen to woo.)

Perhaps I’m the one channelling Scrooge now so, for the record, I love Christmas – I really do. But I also want the messages of Christmas – especially the one about giving some kind of consideration to our fellow human beings – to mean more than a few days of parties. Or worst of all, a Tory PR exercise because Boris Johnson simply can’t stand to be the prime minister who cancelled Christmas.