Comment - Timely reminder it’s us who hold the keys to the pub

The government has been trying to have it both ways - generously giving us permission to see family but not wanting to carry the can for a spike in cases afterwards.

The rules permit three households from any region and of any age to mix indoors for five days.

When published a couple of weeks ago they were met with relief - but since then the full potential for disaster has sunk in.

Mr Hancock hammered home his message saying: “We should act with great caution. The rules are not a limit up to which we should all push.”

Many people have been reducing social mixing in the run up to Christmas. Some have taken their kids out of school early. But these options aren’t available to everyone.

Others will decide the risk is worth it, perhaps to see someone for possibly the last time.

Valid though these reasons are, multiplied across the country the effect can easily predicted - January will be the toughest month the NHS has ever seen.

And then there was the reason Mr Hancock was on his feet in the Commons.

Sadly there was no good news for Sheffield in his review of tiers. We stay in the highest category, cancelling Christmas for the beleaguered hospitality industry which must stay closed. It will miss out on up to 40 per cent of annual trade.

And with that all festive cheer evaporated.

There is now a network of grants covering most, but not all, businesses including those that previously fell through the cracks. It is vital that all come forward to check.

But no one is downplaying the true scale of what confronts us: up to one in two pubs could close permanently without more support, with a knock-on effect across the supply chain, from brewers to glassmakers.

We are left to do what we can. Shop local and stick to the rules to limit infections so we can get hospitality open as quickly as possible - in the knowledge that the end is in sight.