Share around Rishi Sunak’s £1billion Covid relief package and the Chancellor is more Scrooge than Santa for pubs, restaurants and other businesses.
The £6,000 grants are sticking plasters when the loss of customers is ruinous at what would be the most profitable part of the year.
And while he has found something for owners, he has ignored the workers who face wage cuts or job losses because he did not reintroduce a furlough scheme to save jobs during this unofficial lockdown.
Hogmanay being cancelled in Scotland and the ban on spectators at sporting events in Wales are signs that life in England may need to be restricted after Christmas. Whether Johnson is strong enough politically to do what is right is seriously in question.
What is not in question is that the PM and his Treasury moneyman are short-changing Britons. Covid destroys lives and livelihoods. Both deserve safeguarding.
Melting point
Miserable-looking reindeer and markedly less snow in Lapland are worrying evidence of climate change.
Children of the future wondering why Santa Claus had a sleigh on a long-gone icy white natural carpet would be damning proof that we failed to save the planet.
This year’s Cop26 environment conference missing the 1.5C heating target to prevent catastrophic heating is no reason to give up.
Saving our natural environment isn’t only about protecting reindeer, although they and all other wild animals count.
Unless we halt global heating, the impact will be devastating from the North to South Poles and everywhere in between. The climate emergency is the great challenge of our time.
Bin the money
So Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum can afford to pay a £554million divorce award to his ex-wife.
The record settlement from a UK court is a reminder of how the other 0.000000001% live.
