Dear reader, I think it's fair to say that the reputation of the Stormont Executive has taken another battering following Thursday's night new lockdown announcement. Almost everyone will now know that while some parts of hospitality and close contact services reopened today, they will close again in just a week's time as part of sweeping restrictions imposed by our politicians. The response from the hospitality industry and individual business owners has been withering, with Stormont's politicians receiving the bulk of their ire. The owner of one Belfast based restaurant went as far as to write on social media that all politicians in the Stormont Executive have been banned from his premises for life because of the way in which they had handled the restrictions. First Minister Arlene Foster has defended the impending restrictions and her own party's dramatic U-turn from a week ago, claiming that scientific evidence had left ministers with no choice but to impose the closest thing to a total lockdown. The Department of Health meanwhile announced a further 12 Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland. In some rare positive news, the number of new Covid infections has fallen considerably to 369. I hope you are able to enjoy your weekend in these increasingly difficult times. Alistair Bushe, Editor
Want total access to all of our online content? You can subscribe to our website, newsletter.co.uk for just £1 a month for 3 months - and it couldn't be easier.
Signing up will get you faster-loading articles, fewer adverts and access to exclusive content and events when we run them. To learn more, visit our Subscriptions page here. |