Cast your minds back 12 months: strict rules around social gatherings; shuttered hospitality venues and many Scots working from home. The 2020 Christmas party seemed like a pipe dream.
Even Christmas Day festivities were short lived, with Covid restrictions relaxed for a mere 24 hours in Scotland, before the whole country was slammed in to tight, top tier, restrictions on Boxing Day.
I can understand therefore the sheer outrage, felt across the UK, when the news dropped that Downing Street held a staff Christmas Party at Number Ten last year.
Nicola Sturgeon seized this opportunity and banned Christmas parties taking place on Scottish Government premises this year, but Holyrood ministers can still book private functions to entertain their staff.
There were big hopes that December 2021 would be the season to be jolly but amidst reports of widespread cancellations, this year is looking to be less about revelry and more about reluctance.
The Scottish Government and public health officials are grappling to get to grips with rising Omicron cases, which is making prospective partygoers concerned.
Industry body the Scottish Hospitality Group is worried about the rise in cancellations. The crucial festive period accounts for around 30 per cent of annual turnover in the sector.
Spokesperson Stephen Montgomery says many hospitality businesses face a financial tsunami: “Come January, a lot of people will be weighing up their futures…there will be a lot of bankruptcies.”
Online booking platform OpenTable said that bookings for diners in restaurants are at their weakest since hospitality reopened in the summer.
Hospitality isn’t the only sector which banks on Christmas trading. For retailers, a lot rides on Christmas shoppers being able to get the stuff they want in time for the big day.
In order to try and head trouble off at the pass, Sainsbury’s has asked staff to postpone Christmas parties over fears that the knock-on effect of group gatherings, community transmission and subsequent absences, could severely impact the already fragile supply chain.
The so-called ‘pingdemic’ will still be fresh in retailers’ minds too. The period over the summer when NHS test and trace apps forced many people to self-isolate if they encountered someone with Covid. It led to workforce shortages, which interrupted deliveries and stock on shelves.
To my mind, delaying festive parties makes business sense, but it must surely stick in the throat like Christmas pudding without custard.
Even though big corporate bookings are down there will still be a hard core of individual party animals, many of whom might be working in jobs where they have yet to meet most of their colleagues beyond a daily zoom meeting, who will party on in smaller groups regardless.
But it may not be enough to keep the coffers topped up for some retailers and hospitality businesses in order to stave off financial ruin in the new year. You can’t help but wonder, had the messaging from the top been clearer, could some of this have been avoided?
Night Time Industries Association boss, Michael Kill, agrees. He called government messaging “confused”.
Not helped by Health Secretary Sajid Javid appearing to contradict the specific advice of his UK Work and Pensions counterpart, Thérèse Coffey, who urged people to avoid “snogging under the mistletoe”. In response Mr Javid told ITV News, “people can snog who they wish.” Make up your mind, folks.
Politicians say they are loathe to reintroduce similar restrictions to those seen this time last year, but the option remains very much on the table.
The Scottish Government say they are conducting a daily review of rules. Last week Nicola Sturgeon asked employers to let staff work from home until mid-January and, let’s not forget, last year’s Christmas U-turn by Prime Minister Boris Johnston, announced on the 20th December.
Despite big promises that Christmas would go ahead Bo Jo pulled the rug from under millions of people just four days before Christmas.
The short notice rule change resulted in a travel ban across the UK and restrictions in some areas on mixing indoors with anyone not from within the same household.
Is the mood music this year starting to sound the same? Let’s watch this space.
Pop-Up Hope for the High Street
The state of the high street is something I’ve discussed many times. The empty shelves that were once busy stores, the many ‘to let’ signs and the quiet streets – even in the run up to Christmas.
It can be depressing walking down once busy shopping streets however, following a successful trial in Keith, the council area of Moray is offering free shop space for businesses in the hopes this will revive town centres.
The new pop-up scheme aims to help small and new businesses, giving them the chance to test run their ideas before committing to a long-term let.
Businesses will have the opportunity to use empty shops for up to four weeks for free, with only utility costs to pay.
This idea is something which I think, if successful in Moray, could be spread to other areas in Scotland in order to fill some of those vacant storefronts.
For entrepreneurs looking to take the plunge and kickstart a new business, this is the perfect opportunity. As an entrepreneur myself, I know how difficult it can be to get that start and it can be daunting in this climate to start a new brand.
The ghostly high street is enough to put people off however this initiative could be the answer for those with big ideas and the plans in place.
Not only will it give owners an idea of how well their business will perform on the high street, it also provides them with a chance to raise their profile.
Time will tell if the scheme is successful however, for those interested, the scheme will run until 2023 so there has never been a better time to give it a go.
It Made Me Laugh
When I think of festive tipples, I think of mulled wine, eggnog or fizz, but apparently our favourite Christmas drink is Irn Bru which means there’s no difference from the rest of the year…
The makers of Scotland’s iconic creation, AG Barr, has revealed that we drink an astounding 2.5 million cans over the festive season.
The stats are staggering, with ten per cent of Scots drinking between ten and a hundred cans this Christmas.
The survey also revealed that while one in four of us wish to spend the big day with our family, one in five would much rather jet off on a holiday instead.
I can’t help but think I agree with the latter, but only because we’ve had limited holidays this year, of course.
It Made Me Weep
As if Christmas wasn’t financially tough already, rising energy costs could cripple some families this winter.
A poll has revealed that one in three people in Scotland find their energy bills unaffordable which in my opinion is downright unacceptable but sadly, not shocking.
There are many different factors in play which could be the cause; the energy crisis, the end of the Universal Credit uplift and the increase of the energy price cap, to name a few, along with the storms that have been battering Britain.
The survey commissioned by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is a bleak look at how so many may struggle to do simple things like heat their home.
The Scottish Government must step up to tackle these issues before the situation becomes more dire than it already is.
