Santa or the Grinch? It’s the dilemma Boris Johnson faces this Covid Christmas

There are real worries that social distancing discipline, which has held for so long, will simply break down as Christmas approaches, writes Andrew Woodcock

The pressure is on to give shops a festive lifeline (Getty)

The government has said throughout the coronavirus crisis that it will be “guided by the science” in deciding what restrictions to place on social and economic life.

And much to ministers’ own surprise, the public have seemed largely willing to go along with that, giving up work, sport, shopping, holidays and evenings out in a national effort to beat the disease.

But now Boris Johnson is confronted with the one sacrifice that he and those around him fear will be too much to ask people to make – Christmas.