hello. this is bbc news. hi miriam mcsherry. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment — first the headlines. nearly 18 million people in london and south—east england move into stricter tier 4 restrictions from midnight — people must stay at home, and nonessential shops have to close. for those in tier 4 — it means the relaxation of rules at christmas has been scrapped —

and reduced to one day, the 25th, for the rest of england. we must be realistic. we are sacrificing the chance to see our love ones this christmas so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so that we can see them at future christmases. the new restrictions are due to a spike in cases — that's being blamed on a fast—spreading new variant of the disease. the whole of wales is to be placed under lockdown from midnight, with festive rules cancelled for all but christmas day. scotland reduces the five—day festive window for mixing with other households indoors to just christmas day itself — and imposes a "strict travel ban" between itself and the rest of the uk.

hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the political commentator, jo phillips and the political editor of the people & the sunday mirror, nigel nelson. let's ta ke let's take a quick look at some of tomorrow's front pages. one story dominates. the telegraph says borisjohnson has effectively cancelled christmas for 16 million people last night by placing them in new draconian lockdown measures to combat a new, more infectious strain of coronavirus. the express says the fast—spreading vairant of coronavirus had ‘wrecked christmas‘. the papers reports the prime minister was "bitterly disappointed" to axe festivities. the star is less kind. it says ‘bozo stuffs christmas‘ after a third of england is put into what it calls a brutal tier 4 lockdown. the sunday times headline — christmas is cancelled by surging mutant virus.

the paper says the new strain is thought to account for the majority of new infections in london where intensive care units are already operating at full or nearly full capacity, and nonessential outpatient care is being cancelled. the mail on sunday ask‘ will this nightmare ever end? ‘and says the pm is facing anger in his own party over the decision. so let‘s begin... you both forjoining us once again to look through the papers. let‘s start with the sunday times. —— thank you both. this is the headline that boris johnson did thank you both. this is the headline that borisjohnson did not want to read on a sunday morning. no. and it is pretty unanimous to all the papers, christmas is cancelled and he is the one that had the make the decision only 30 days after sneering at the labour leader keir starmer at prime minister questions. accusing him of wanting to cancel christmas.

it isa him of wanting to cancel christmas. it is a very interesting take that the sunday times reporting everything that you have been reporting since the press conferences afternoon. but the piece by the sunday political liquor tim shipman is a very sympathetic piece. that‘s political editor. he talks about the cavalier pm is now a sad, sober round head. and now there is a discernible change in the prime minister‘s demeanour because anybody who watch that press conference this afternoon or salt on the news well have seen a at him look quite downcast invisibly not absent exactly but not his normal and buoyant self. i think part of the problem is one of borisjohnson‘s strengths if you want to look at it. he is always an eternal optimist. so therefore he is always said it will be fine and we can get over this and

get through this. but i think there‘s been a gathering storm of information and evidence and pressure from the health service and the medical expert and has on sage advisers that was nothing else he could do. you have to answer the question why on earth did he think the five day relaxations is a good idea in the first place? and that tim shipman piece on the front page, nigel, it also says the greatest leaders of course thrive on crisis and pressure. is that the case for boris? i think the trouble here is that the kind of pressure that he is actually dealing with. this of a job that he had always wanted. as tim makes the point, he doesn't seem to be enjoying it very much. in a sense who could be surprised about that. 0n the one hand, you're dealing with the worst emergencies since the second world war in covid—19, he has also gotjust 12 days second world war in covid—19, he has also got just 12 days down the road

to sort out brexit. now, when he became prime minister he thought it wasjust going to be about brexit. and probably that is what we have been talking about tonight if they hadn't have been for what is happening today with covid—19. but when you have got to crisis like that coming on top of you, and you're not getting very much sleep, it must be extremely difficult so i'm not surprised about how his analysis that the prime minister is not enjoying it very much of the moment. let's move onto the mail on sunday. well this nightmare ever and? the headline. this assessment a very different christmas for so many people. —— this has meant. absolutely. there will be people this afternoon and tonight will be bitterly disappointed and heartbroken at not being able to see theirfamilies particularly heartbroken at not being able to see their families particularly older people have been very sensible and

very compliant and have stayed home and follow the rules and who are probably expecting to be picked up oui’ probably expecting to be picked up our travel to see their families tomorrow or the next couple of days. it will have upset many families and many planes and also another kick in the teeth for businesses who have been desperately trying to gain something back from all the shutdowns in the closures in there like a footfall they have had. but again, comes back to this. we knew it was an increase in the infection rate. we knew it was going down the tier system was not working. and this thus seemed to be the state of people, change of plans and from midnight tonight. it doesn‘t give or give people any chance to make any alternative plans. which some people might have been able to come but i

think they‘re going to be a lot of lonely and sad people of this christmas and it is true with they say, it feels like a nightmare because it is been going on for the past pa rt because it is been going on for the past part of the year and there is no end in sight. except for the vaccine. but that is what we have to be absolutely brutal and getting the infection rate down into more and more people, particularly the portable have been vaccinated. the front page also saying the prime minister blames a new mutant virus strains but faces tory anger. is that anger misplaced the youth in? what you have is the the tory anger is coming from a group. on the one hand, the hard—line brexiteers anyway, but they belong to the covid—19 recovery group. and these are the mps who voted against boris johnson when he brought in the tier restrictions. so they are angry come

the reason they are angry, is they feel the economy is more important than knocking people down and as a result of that, they don't think these restrictions should be introduced. injonsson does have a big problem because it means that every time he wants to get through parliament he has to rely on the labour votes. last time around we had 58 tories who voted against him and his majority is 80, that should bea and his majority is 80, that should be a rock—solid sake majority, but it only takes 40 to overturn it. he is over the passed that mark. he cannot be a very happy man at the moment knowing that there is a substantial part of his own party who are also against them. it could lead to a leadership challenge eventually. it does make life difficult for boris johnson. absolutely. as nigel said come he came into downing streetjust over a

year ago thinking all you had to do is deliver brexit, and there are quite a few people thinking that once he did that he will walk away and go back to the much more lucrative like the bank a writer and columnist. he is now got this and he is god brexit really coming around the corner at a breakneck speed. —— and he has got brexit. it is difficult to see, one has a certain degree of sympathy but so much of this is of his own making. he didn‘t create the coronavirus obviously but the lack of clarity in the lack of consistency in the mixed messages that have thrown the country into turmoil. those of us in the south these who are going into tier 4 from tonight, we have to remember that people in the north of england have already been locked down a lot longer than other parts of the

country. so there is a massive backlog of business catastrophes, personal catastrophes, people plunging into debt. in borisjohnson has always wanted to be a prime minister for the has always wanted to be a prime ministerfor the good has always wanted to be a prime minister for the good times. that is his nature. it is not his nature to bea his nature. it is not his nature to be a slugger a lot of this is about attention to detail. and i‘m afraid he has been sorely lacking in. let's move he has been sorely lacking in. let's m ove o nto he has been sorely lacking in. let's move onto the sunday mirror. the mirror talks about this. not sure if it is in any other other front pagejust sure if it is in any other other front page just what this is yet another u—turn by this government. 0ur u—turnsa another u—turn by this government. 0ur u—turns a sign of weakness or a sign ofa 0ur u—turns a sign of weakness or a sign of a government that listens? it depends on the u—turn. when it comes down to something like this pandemic, there are all sorts of things that have come out from left field and required you to change tact. we all understand that. where

borisjohnson he tact. we all understand that. where boris johnson he seems tact. we all understand that. where borisjohnson he seems to get tact. we all understand that. where boris johnson he seems to get a wrong is that when he can see the elephant traps coming to him he didn't seem to be able to avoid them. so i'm thinking in terms of free school meals. you could see that the whole exam system wasn't going to work. that he had a u—turn ona going to work. that he had a u—turn on a levels, now we have a situation where by this mutant virus has none about november and maybe earlier than that from some scientists and he should have been able to see this one coming. now he is cancelling christmas with less than a week ago we re christmas with less than a week ago were as he could have looked at it and said there to go with christmas, and said there to go with christmas, and that would've meant if he had did something back in november, a lot of people would have not have had to make preparations, pay a lot of money out on plans for the christmases which now they will use.

what do you think, jo coachella do you agree? i do. he has had ample opportunity in plenty of advice that the five—day relaxation with a crazy idea. right in the middle of winter with no evidence that infection rates were going down. it was only after a huge pressure from the british medicaljournal of the health service journal and british medicaljournal of the health servicejournal and a pretty unprecedented joint editorial so that pressure has come but it is also this thing of two days ago the government was going to take a local authority to court because i wanted to close in schools because there we re to close in schools because there were not enough teachers and they we re were not enough teachers and they were coping. then within hours, gavin williamson, the education secretary said all schools are going to open a little bit later in january. it is this mixed messages to people who are absolutely on the front line whether they are teachers, health care workers,

carriers and care homes, there are people who are really struggling to cope with this in order to keep a lot of essay. and educated. and moving around. —— keep a lot of us say. and he is rapidly losing what little credibility he has. a lot of that went out back in the summer with dominic cummings and goings. people may feel sympathetic to him 110w people may feel sympathetic to him now but i think as nigel said, this, the writing has been on the wall and sometimes it is better to be cautious however difficult that is rather than have to do this because a u—turn, we have a got wrong so often does look weak. i do agree with what you said. u—turns sometimes are a question of listening. he didn‘t need to make a u—turn on the free school meals. molly had to do is read the room and say it marcus rashford is much more popular in a charismatic footballer,

let‘s talk to him and see if we can work together. let's talk about the statement would have been the last minute. this is from the first minister deputy first minister health minister in northern ireland with the chief medical officer and scientific adviser to discuss the unfolding situation. it says everybody is ours to think seriously about their plans for christmas in to consider limiting the coming together to christmas day only to keep the bubble small and meet for a short as possible time to ensure risk are minimised in the first minister arlene foster has said we know people will be worried about the news coming from other parts of the news coming from other parts of the uk today we find a detailed discussion with the situation and progression of a new variant strain of covid—19 in england is concerning ana reminderto of covid—19 in england is concerning an a reminder to us all to be on regard to the dangers of the virus. nigel, how do you feel that evolved nations have cope with this compared to england? -- that evolve nations? i think nigel has frozen. i‘ll