Don’t think that anyone could have predicted how gloomy and desperate Boris Johnson’s message to the House Of Commons just now was as he announced that the new Coronavirus restrictions that the government was implementing could be in place for the next six months, meaning that the Christmas period will look very different to what most families normally experience.

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Here’s what Boris Johnson said just now:

“We should assume the restrictions that I have announced will remain in place for six months”

PM Boris Johnson adds if we “fail to bring the R below 1, then we reserve the right to deploy greater fire power, with significantly greater restrictions”https://t.co/NcgD0xk77O pic.twitter.com/eddnby3OEc

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 22, 2020

I want to stress that this is by no means a return to the full lockdown of March.

We’re not issuing a general instruction to stay at home.

We will ensure that schools, colleges, universities stay open because nothing is more important than the education, health and well-being of our young people.

We will ensure businesses can stay open in a Covid-compliant way.

However we must take action to suppress the disease.

The new restrictions are carefully judged to achieve the maximum reduction in the R number with the minimum damage to lives and livelihoods.

Unless we palpably make progress then we should assume that the restrictions I have announced will remain in place for perhaps six months.

New measures in England:

👩‍💼Work from home where you can (again)
🍺 Hospitality closes at 10pm
👰 Max of 15 at weddings
😷 Face coverings in taxis, retail, some hospitality
🏉 No restarting sports events from Oct anymore

Should expect these measures to last 6 months, says PM.

— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) September 22, 2020

Guess this is the new normal then and it’s slightly better than what we had to deal with earlier this year but still pretty terrible. I think deep down thought that we all knew this was coming as even when the lockdown rules were eased at the start of the summer there was a huge talk of a second wave in October.

I suppose they’re moving a couple of weeks early to try and suppress that, but even then it seems like the massive push for ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ and ‘Getting People Back To Work’ have been woefully misguided. Top work yet again Boris.

For more of the same, here’s Piers Morgan questioning why Boris Johnson is forcing pubs to close at 10pm. The guy has a point.