Summary
England's national lockdown was, in the end, replaced with the Government's tougher tier system of local restrictions. Restrictions called "stupid" and poorly-targeted by some of its own backbenchers. Vicki and Adam discuss why those rebels spoke up.
Some of those politicians have been throwing around bed occupancy figures - but there are better ways to talk about how full a hospital is. Dr Coralie Carle explains.
And as the BBC reveals that people in deprived parts of England were almost twice as likely to die during the height of lockdown than people in richer areas, Ed Thomas and Father Alex Frost join us to reflect on how those pressures are being felt in Burnley.
If you've been affected by any of what you hear in this edition, help is available. Find out more at bbc.co.uk/actionline
Studio director: Emma Crowe Producers: Natalie Ktena, Ben Weisz, Rick Kelsey Editor: Dino Sofos
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello, we're recording this episode in the very early evening |
| 0:08.8 | of the 1st of December, which means it's completely |
| 0:12.3 | legitimate to play a bit of Christmas music and to talk about |
| 0:19.4 | when is the right time to buy your Christmas tree. And of course the people to ask about that are |
| 0:26.4 | from Gardner's World. And I'm very pleased to say we've got Francis Top Hill from Gardner's World here. |
| 0:33.6 | Hello how are you? |
| 0:35.2 | Very well thank you and you know what is cheering me up on my way to work every day at the |
| 0:38.6 | moment so many people have got their Christmas trees up so early or am I just |
| 0:42.3 | imagining that? |
| 0:43.0 | No I think everyone's gone for it early because it's the only thing that brings us joy. |
| 0:47.0 | I mean every winter it's the same Christmas trees, lights all very joyful but we need it this year |
| 0:51.8 | don't we? Well if you're a regular listener to newscast maybe you are you all very |
| 0:54.1 | Newscast maybe you are you'd already have heard me saying I've got two advent calendars this year to cheer me |
| 0:59.3 | So I do listen but I did not know that good on you |
| 1:05.0 | Very exciting. Still not exactly sure where to put each one, but anyway. |
| 1:08.0 | So does everyone basically buy, when they buy a natural real Christmas tree, |
| 1:12.0 | is everyone basically buying the same kind of tree? |
| 1:15.6 | No, there are many different kinds of tree that you can get. |
| 1:18.5 | Traditionally it would have been a pine but the classic is the Norway spruce, which is the sort that drops all of its |
| 1:25.5 | needles by the end, usually before Christmas actually. So now a lot more people are |
| 1:29.9 | buying Nordman Firs, which on to their needles a lot longer. |
... |
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