Yesterday's Whitty/Johnson briefing, which effectively said cut down on your socialising, threw the hospitality sector under the bus at what should be their most profitable time of the year.
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty last night urged Britons to scale back their social lives and not mix with people unless they have to. The public should “prioritize social interactions that really matter to them” by “de-prioritizing” more trivial social events, Whitty advised, warning this was “going to become increasingly important as we approach Christmas.” His unmistakeable takeaway: “Don’t mix with people you don’t have to.”
Boris Johnson — under pressure from his increasingly restriction-skeptic party — declined to join Whitty in giving the public a direct order to cancel events over the Christmas period. There is outcry among business leaders this morning at what they see as a worst-of-all-worlds scenario, where Brits stay home of their own accord in the coming weeks without the government providing any financial safety net for the hospitality and live events industries.
Resolution Foundation’s Torsten Bell puts it:
“If you’re telling people to avoid hospitality, it doesn’t matter if you’re not banning them from doing so: restaurants, pubs, bars are going to get stuffed. They’ll lose customers and workers will lose their jobs.”
100,000’s staff hours are being slashed up and down the UK, due to cancellations.
— Sacha Lord (@Sacha_Lord) December 16, 2021
A large proportion are on a living wage.
Xmas is looming, and many now have no income.
Your silence is deafening @RishiSunak.
Unforgivable and Unforgettable.
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