On Saturday night PM Boris Johnson announced further lockdown measures. From Thursday 5th November to 2nd December England will be plunged into a retail and hospitality nightmare with all but essential retailers allowed to stay open. This follows the previous lockdown in March where you were told to stay home except for exercise, grocery shopping and buying medicine. The main difference appears to be schools and universities are to remain open. The furlough scheme has been extended for the month of November paying 80% of staff salary up to £2,500, whereas the Job Support Scheme which was due to take effect today has been put on hold until furlough ends. the following link is from the governments own website site which gives more detail: Lockdown guidance

This lockdown comes at a critical time for retailers when as much as 40% of sales comes in this quarter. After the reopening of shops in the summer where many retailers saw good business and were looking forward to a robust Q4.

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retail faces a nightmare before Christmas as the Government proposes to close thousands of retail premises under this new national lockdown, denying customers access to many of their favourite shops and brands. It will cause untold damage to the high street in the run up to Christmas, with only a minimal effect on the transmission of the virus."

So are you for or against these measures, I certainly have my views, but I am more interested in yours. Email me your opinions:  mark@lemapublishing.co.uk