THE difficulty of returning to ‘normal’, a blinkered regime and the need to support local businesses at Christmas were the topics debated by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.

The Guardian

Emma Brockes said three oppositional thoughts entered her head on hearing the positive news about potential vaccines.

“The end of the pandemic is finally in sight; infection rates will, between now and then, continue to rise and many people will die; and, most confoundingly, I’m not sure I’m ready to go back to the world,” she said.

“The intensity of this period, so much of which flies by in the scramble just to hang on without falling, will, I know, look different at 10 or 20 years’ distance.”

She said that, beneath all the things to look forward to next year - travelling, seeing family, being able to go for a drink with friends - lay a kind of dread.

“During the pandemic, the siren song of cancelled meetings, zero travel, endless opportunities to avoid people you mildly dislike and a daily alibi for not having a shower has been terrible, disorienting, depression-inducing and inclined to cause panic,” she said. “But let’s face it: some aspect of it has also been the enactment and indulgence of our wildest dreams.”

She had a Zoom meeting for work with someone less than five miles away and the fact she didn’t have to get on the subway to see her felt like a ‘small gift from God.’

“An aspect of this conflict – I want to go back to my old life; I don’t want to go back to my old life – is simple desocialisation,” she said. “This past year has been horrible in so many ways, and yet, knowing as we do that it will mark us in time, a small part of me doesn’t want it to end.”

The Daily Mail

NHS GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp said anyone looking at the state of the UK now from this time last year would find it truly inconceivable.

“I thought I could not be more shocked and dismayed by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock’s increasingly authoritarian and meddling strategies – always with their phalanx of unaccountable scientists,” he said. “Yet today I find myself not only shocked but furious – and bewildered by the actions of an increasingly blinkered regime.”

He warned countless millions of vulnerable people were set to be plunged further into poverty all in the name of a virus that is survived by 99 per cent of people it infects.

"As a practising GP, I have seen almost daily in my surgery how, trapped by the authorities' one-eyed focus on tackling Covid at any cost, my patients have struggled to access even the most basic services," he said. "With infection rates falling, I had dared to hope that those in charge would take the long weeks afforded by the latest lockdown to come up with a more nuanced approach."

Far from it, he added. Nienty nine per cent of the country is to be plunged into Tiers 2 and 3.

"Long months of government propaganda have groomed so many of us to fear the worst, even though the forecasting has often been disgracefully inaccurate," he said. "Our once proud, libertarian nation has sleepwalked into a position where we now allow ourselves to be told which way to walk in a supermarket – and where we feel obliged to thank some minister when he tells us we can see Granny at Christmas."

The Independent

Darcey Sergison said she was avoiding online - and physical - sales completely this year and shopping 'small' and local instead.

"With rising concern about makers’ pay during the pandemic, I have made sure that any products I buy have been sourced ethically and pay employees a good wage," she said. "If you have the time and money, it is a worthwhile practice."

It is crucial, she said, that we know more about our products and where they come from.

"For a lot of people sales items are the only way in which Christmas presents are bought," she said. "By no means is this negative if it is a necessity. If you need to shop from sales, this year, do your research beforehand."

She said now, more than ever during the pandemic, small shops and businesses need our support.

"Don’t let sale signs decide where you shop this Christmas," she said.

"Look into who and where you are buying from. Learning from my best and worst purchases while avoiding sales is something that will help me in the long run.

"No matter how enticing the four letters are, don’t let them drag you into a purchase, you will regret later. "