Boris Cancels Christmas Lord Protector Boris Johnson contemplates what other filthy frivolities might be putting the populace in harm's way. (Image: The Week) Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday announced his most humiliating U-turn to date, putting London and the South East into a new "Tier 4" (lockdown in all but name), cancelling the Christmas amnesty for those areas and reducing it to just Christmas Day for the rest of the country. The Telegraph has the details. Boris Johnson was forced to introduce a new tier with tougher restrictions last night as he warned that a new variant of the virus was spreading "significantly more easily" among the population.The Prime Minister told the nation: “When the virus changes its method of attack, we must change our methods of defence."He placed 18 million people across London, the South East and East of England into new Tier 4 restrictions which closely resemble November's lockdown.It came after he received alarming new evidence that a variant strain of COVID-19 – called VUI2020/12/01 – was ripping through areas in Tier 3, where restrictions were failing to control the spread.For the rest of the country, the five-day window to form a Christmas bubble has been scaled back to just one 24-hour period.From Sunday, non-essential, gyms, cinemas, hairdressers and bowling alleys will be forced to close for two ...