This is always reassuring. No "Merry Christmas" just a silent night for them.But the problem is how to keep the virus from spreading during these last few weeks — and once again rules, regulations, etc. If that happens, lorries going from here to Europe across the Channel as well as EU lorries coming to UK will need to fill in many forms and pay tariff on the goods. He has refused to rescue these shops and 13,000 employees will be made redundant. Fortunately, thanks to the NHS — there are detailed lists of everyone — their addresses and even who has what illness. And even the Queen, at 94, will wait to receive it, when her turn comes. But this has also meant that it is a shopping bonanza for all those who have been at home for far too long. So the Prime Minister was pulled up from the depths of defeat to a sense of being the first off the starting line! UK had once again beaten the world!A list has been quickly drawn up of who has priority for receiving the first round of shots.However, just when things were beginning to look rosy, the Brexit crisis has resurfaced.

A deal has to be signed by end of December., are being trotted out. As always these have raised levels of dismay.The triumph of UK being first in the world among the ‘vaxxers’ did not go down well with everyone. Otherwise UK exits Europe without a deal.Yet the very next day came the good news that the Pfizer vaccine was ready and had won its approval from the UK regulators. But a week is a long time in politics — and from being one of the most unpopular prime ministers for imposing restrictions — "lucky" Boris is now shooting up the popularity charts! Who even remembers that just last Monday Parliament debated legislation about imposing a system of tiers in different parts of the country to replace the lockdown? This was so unpopular even among Tory MPs that Boris Johnson faced the worst backbench revolt of his year long Premiership. This will make the task easier. The vaccines have to be kept at -70 degrees C so the logistics are tricky. While I am worried about whether my father at 97 will get the vaccine in India (as he should be in the first list), in the UK everyone awaits their turn, and Parliamentarians and other VIPs are not a priority. Fifty-six Tory MPs voted against the government. So it is a delicate few days of negotiations before the 27 nations of EU unanimously approve of the Brexit deal. Tory Ministers could not help boasting that it was thanks to Brexit that UK could be the first, leaving the EU behind — as all of Europe will get it at the same time. As of now care home patients and frontline workers have top priority. But he later added  that he did not doubt the decisions of the UK regulators. Ironically— the biggest profits will be made just before the cash registers stop ringing!. Had Labour Party and Scottish Nationalists also voted against, the government would not have been able to impose the tiers. Arcadia, a consortium of well known brands such as Top Shop, Top Man, D H Evans, Miss Selfridge  Burton, Dorothy Perkins, was owned by Sir Philip Green — a billionaire who lives on a yacht in the South of France. Had corners been cut? Then the Americans joined in. Some people predict queues of lorries stretching for miles at the ports. It may even delay the vaccines arriving from Brussels. And so yes, those long queues you see in London are not for the vaccine — but to pick up some great discounts from the shops which are closing down. Apart from the delay, it will play havoc with social distancing. They also arrive in packages of 975 so only hospitals can deal with such large numbers. This is the vaccine effect — though Oxford Street lights are a bit dim because several well known stores have gone into administration together. Someone had the foresight to book forty million of these vaccines for us. Decorations are up and going by the crowds thronging into Harrods — it seems Christmas has come early. Fortunately, unlike in India, the VIP battery led string light for sale system does not apply here.  The EU regulators then retaliated by casting some doubts on the early bird decision of the UK regulators. Will ‘lucky’ Boris swing it again? 

There is already huge excitement over Christmas. As a consequence Debenhams which has been on the High Street across the country since 1778 has also gone bankrupt with 12,000 employees losing their jobs.Yes — the vaccine is coming! The vaccine is coming! And I have been told— that people are now heading back to the UK as this may be the first country to get a reliable injection to beat the pandemic. Then comes the turn of the NHS staff followed by the over 80s and then down the age ladder. Dr Fauci, hitherto the hero for standing up to Donald Trump,  said the US regulators would take longer to approve.