I'M wondering just how pertinent the old Mud song Lonely This Christmas is going to be over this year’s festive season, despite the government apparently declaring a truce with the coronavirus.

I’m still struggling to come to terms with the logic of allowing multi-generational ‘three households’ bubbles for five days, given all the sacrifices we’ve made with multiple lockdowns and tiers. I think it’s madness given that vaccines are on the way, but I am prepared to accept the wisdom of one of my colleagues who believes the government had no option but to relax social distancing rules because people would have just ignored them anyway over Christmas.

But giving the go ahead for five days of socialising and mixing does cause other problems, notably exactly who is going to be in your bubble.

For those of us who are determined to protect ourselves, as sad as it might have been, the ‘no mixing’ rules were easy to follow. Everyone could simply plan to hunker down in their own homes. Yes, you may have been lonely this Christmas but at least you would have been safe and following the rules.

Now, households up and down the country are having to have difficult conversations with gran and granddads, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters.

Take, for example, my own family. Usually my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter spend part of Christmas with us and part with the in-laws.

That can’t happen this year because those festive bubbles have to be exclusive so we have had to have the upsetting chat this year to ask them not to come to us.

So yes, it’s certainly going to be lonelier this Christmas for us.

The more I think about it, the more I think the question I think we should all be asking ourselves when it comes to health is exactly who do you trust more, Boris Johnson or medical experts?

My money is on the experts.

As the government's chief medical adviser, Prof Chris Whitty, said: "Would I want someone to see their family? Of course, that's what Christmas is about.

"But would I encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? No, I would not.

"It's not against the law – and that's the whole point. You can do it within the rules…but the fact that you can do something doesn't mean you should if you want them [elderly relatives] to survive to be hugged again."

Talking about coronavirus and the potential effects, I was moved almost to tears by the open letter from Vicky Neville, an intensive care unit nurse at Warrington Hospital.

Vicky is a new mum and should have been on maternity leave but instead returned to work to care for those most ill from the disease.

Her description of losing one of her patients to Covid-19 was truly heartbreaking. Ironically as I was reading her story, at the same time on the television news were scenes of anti-lockdown, anti-mask protesters fighting with police in central London, demanding their rights.

I can only assume the rights they were demanding were the freedom to spread a cruel and murderous disease to anyone they came into contact with.

Perhaps those anti-lockdown, anti-mask idiots should be made to spend an hour or so with Vicky and her colleagues in an ICU to see the effects of an uncontrolled and unrestrained pandemic.

I think it’s true to say Covid-19 and the attempts to get it under control, have affected just about every individual and organisation.

That is certainly true for LiveWire – the organisation that runs libraries and leisure centres on behalf of Warrington Borough Council – which has taken a bit of a hammering thanks to lockdowns, tier restrictions and social distancing measures.

But there is a bit of good news for LiveWire (and Culture Warrington) as the council has decided to retain their services for another five years when the current contracts runs out in 2022. This will give particularly LiveWire a degree of stability so it can be rescued from the financial trouble brought about by Covid-19.

There is, however, an interesting anomaly. During the pandemic, the government is providing financial support to councils that still have in-house leisure and culture services but is providing nothing for those that have outsourced them. It doesn’t seem fair somehow.

Warrington South MP Andy Carter loves to tell us he is in regular contact with government ministers and I wonder if this is something he might like to take up.

We can live in hope.