No 10 put all their eggs in vaccine basket in effort to save Christmas

Analysis: changes to cabinet and public mood from last year make further restrictions less likely

The date ringed in red in Westminster is 18 December - not the date for Christmas parties but the time by which people should start to know how different their festive plans may look.

For this government it is quite an inauspicious date, just a day before soaring cases forced Boris Johnson to finally put the brakes on Christmas mixing plans last year and tell most families they would be spending celebrations apart.