Soul-sapping monotony, holidays and the Lord’s Day

The Transport Secretary Grant Schapps’ advice that it was ‘too soon’ for people to start booking summer holidays in February, either in the UK or abroad, came six weeks too late for my family.

Surely no government can cancel Christmas and not expect middle-aged women across the country to immediately start planning their next opportunity to fulfil every mother’s dream: Having All their Grown-up Children In One Place and Everyone Having a Lovely Time (or at least, trying to).

Mr Schapps’ comments came the day after England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van Tam warned against making ‘elaborate’ summer holiday plans. ‘I can’t give people a proper answer at this point because we don’t yet have the data,’ said JVT. ‘It’s just too early.’