• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Johnson blames the chaos of his 10pm curfew on ‘hobnobbers’

The Canary by The Canary
4 October 2020
in News, UK
Reading Time: 4 mins read
169 3
A A
3
Home UK News
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Boris Johnson has defended the controversial 10pm curfew. And he’s blamed people who choose to “hobnob” outside pubs after hours for the sometimes chaotic scenes in city centres at closing time.

Scientists advising the government have already warned that the measure may be doing more harm than good. It’s caused long queues outside off-licences, as people rush to buy more alcohol, and revellers piling onto public transport with little or no social distancing.

The prime minister also said that if the Eat Out To Help Out discount scheme had helped to spread coronavirus (Covid-19), then that needs to be counteracted with “discipline”.

Coronavirus – Sat Oct 3, 2020
Passengers on a Northern Line train in London on Saturday night (Victoria Jones/PA)

Everybody out

Asked to provide hard scientific evidence for the 10pm curfew, the PM told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show:

Well the scientific evidence is of course that the virus is transmitted by person-to-person contact.

Yes it’s transmitted in homes, it’s transmitted between people, but it’s also transmitted in what they call the hospitality sectors, it’s transmitted in pubs and bars and restaurants, particularly as people get more convivial as the evening goes on.

Johnson, referring to pub customers who’ve spent the evening drinking alcohol, said people “just need to follow the guidance”, and that:

Obviously it makes no sense if, having followed the guidance for all the time in the pub, they then pour out into the street and hobnob in such a way as to spread the virus.

Coronavirus – Sat Oct 3, 2020
People shelter from the rain in Soho, London, ahead of the 10pm curfew (Victoria Jones/PA)

He added:

The answer is for all of us to follow the guidance.

Eat out to spread it about

It was put to Johnson that the government was paying the public to go and eat out and urging them to return to offices, and that both had spread the virus.

He told Marr:

I take full responsibility for everything that’s happened since the pandemic began of course. And the Government is trying as I say throughout this to strike a balance. We had to go into lockdown in March and April and that was effective in bringing the virus down.

I think it was right to reopen the economy. I think if we hadn’t done that Andrew, if we hadn’t got things moving again in the summer, I mean we would be looking at many more hundreds of thousands of jobs lost.

Coronavirus – Fri Oct 2, 2020
People enter Oxford Circus Underground station in London after the 10pm curfew on Friday night (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

It was again suggested that Eat Out To Help Out spread the virus. Johnson told the programme:

I also think, I also think that it is important now, irrespective of whether Eat Out To Help Out you know, what the balance of there was, it unquestionably helped to protect many… there are two million jobs at least in the hospitality sector.

It was very important to keep those jobs going. Now, if it, insofar as that scheme may have helped to spread the virus, then obviously we need to counteract that and we need to counteract that with the discipline and the measures that we’re proposing.

I hope you understand the balance we’re trying to strike.

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Thousands of jobs at risk as Cineworld set to close all UK sites

Next Post

Leaked files show Russian oligarch under investigation for money laundering is linked to major Tory donor

Next Post
Money laundering

Leaked files show Russian oligarch under investigation for money laundering is linked to major Tory donor

The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday 4 October

One tweet summed up the damage Marr is doing to the BBC

'Absolute scandal' - Covid-19 cases soar in dozens of areas of England following error

Trump’s car ride while infected and contagious slammed as 'political theater' by doctor

Say NO to the Tory war crimes immunity bill

Say NO to the Tory war crimes immunity bill

Please login to join discussion
The DWP office in London
Analysis

The DWP has left unpaid carers in £357 million of debt thank to its own negligence

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
An HMRC letter ripped open over pension
News

HMRC pensions scandal sees thousands of women owed over £7,000

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
Is the Growth of the Online Gambling Sector in 2025 Sustainable or a Bubble Ready to Burst?
Sport & Gaming

Is the Growth of the Online Gambling Sector in 2025 Sustainable or a Bubble Ready to Burst?

by Nathan Spears
20 May 2025
Thomas Corker
News

A memorial to a slave trader in Falmouth just got an honest heritage sign

by The Canary
19 May 2025
Trump looking shocked
Analysis

Uproar over Trump’s latest move which could bring about a 2008-style financial crash

by Steve Topple
19 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

The DWP office in London
Analysis
Steve Topple

The DWP has left unpaid carers in £357 million of debt thank to its own negligence

An HMRC letter ripped open over pension
News
Steve Topple

HMRC pensions scandal sees thousands of women owed over £7,000

Sport & Gaming
Nathan Spears

Is the Growth of the Online Gambling Sector in 2025 Sustainable or a Bubble Ready to Burst?

Thomas Corker
News
The Canary

A memorial to a slave trader in Falmouth just got an honest heritage sign

ADVERTISEMENT
Sport & Gaming
Nathan Spears

Is the Growth of the Online Gambling Sector in 2025 Sustainable or a Bubble Ready to Burst?

Money
Nathan Spears

How to Build a Smart Private Markets Investment Platform

Business
Nathan Spears

How Working with a Logistics Company Boosts the Efficiency of Businesses