2021 has brought with it unique quirks that humankind has never endured before: seeing a man shove a flare up his butt to celebrate England’s football success, for a start.
It’s time to look back on the year-defining experiences of the last 12 months👇
🎄Omicron is running amok in London, putting extreme pressure on the hospitality and entertainment sectors, just as businesses were expecting a bumper Christmas season.
📈Southwark and Hackney have been hit hardest, with cases increasing by more than 70% last week
💉To make matters worse, London has one of the highest numbers of unvaccinated people in the country.
According to official figures, approximately a third of Londoners haven’t received a single jab, and we’re also running behind on the booster rollout
‘In any kind of anxiety, we always go to the worst-case scenario – it’s called negativity bias. We have to pull ourselves back and say no, what’s the reality here? What’s actually happening, versus what we’re predicting might happen?’
❌Switch off from the news
‘We have to remember that the news is designed to hone in on that negativity bias, because it’s much more gripping for people. So you might make a decision that you’re going to watch one TV news programme once a day'
❌Since Boris Johnson announced England’s move to Plan B restrictions, bookings have plummeted, Christmas parties have been postponed and some restaurants are closing early for Christmas due to fears around the rising cases of Omicron. Everything feels very March 2020
😷While hospitality venues are currently allowed to continue to operate as normal – without the reinstatement of social distancing rules, table service or mask mandating – many are taking it upon themselves to protect the health of staff and customers
The intersectional feminist, theorist, poet and critic bell hooks published the groundbreaking ‘Ain’t I A Woman? in 1981 – radically redefined our ideas of love and community.
Here are some of her most illuminating quotes:
⭐‘Satisfying friendships in which we share mutual love provides a guide for behaviour in other relationships, including romantic ones.’
📍Life lesson: We all sort of know it, but it’s important to remember that our friends are as important as our lovers
🎄Thankfully, it looks increasingly unlikely that the UK will be locked down again over Christmas.
🥼Yesterday England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty recommended people scale back on social interactions over the next week in order to avoid having to isolate over Christmas
🏘️This time last year all households were kept apart.
🎉Enforcing another festive lockdown would be unpopular among Boris Johnson’s own MPs and the wider electorate – particularly after recent scandals over Christmas parties held at Downing Street and the Tory party HQ in 2020
📈The UK has moved into a new tier of ‘Plan B’ restrictions.
Faced with rising infection rates and the more transmissible Omicron variant, the country has announced new measures to slow the spread of Covid-19 and keep the virus from overwhelming the health system
⁉️What are the rules?
🔴Working from home is now strongly encouraged
🔴Face masks are now compulsory on public transport and in most indoor public spaces (but not in hospitality)
🔴The NHS health pass has been made compulsory in specific settings like clubs and large venues