Across the UK, online, on DAB and on your smart speaker, the Independent Republic of Mike Graham on Talk Radio.

Good morning and welcome to the Independent Republic of Mike Graham right here on Talk Radio.

It's the last weekend before Christmas, but there's not an awful lot of festive cheer in the air

as britain struggles to find new ways of celebrating will it be a walk in the park could it be a hike

up a mountain a drive around town a bike ride in the rain no forget that uh one thing we will be doing

apparently is spending uh three point five billion or is it five point three billion on christmas

presents over the next few days apparently two and a half million pounds a minute is going to be going through the tills in this country.

So people have obviously got a fair bit of money to spend, despite being advised not to actually give any presents to anyone

in case you end up passing on coronavirus.

I have to say, things have taken a turn for the better since I got into the studio and was handed a rum punch by Julie Hartley Brewer and her personal cocktail maker.

I was at the airport yesterday as well.

Yesterday evening when my daughter was coming from Dubai.

It was eerily quiet, masked passengers walking silently into the arrivals area.

And I suppose this year was summed up best when I saw one guy coming off a Shanghai flight

dressed from head to toe in a full hazmat suit, complete with the boots. You know those ones as

they wear in the police shows when they're walking around a murder suit. It was really quite

strange. We are living in very odd times indeed. 38 million people this weekend are now living in Tier 3 with the announcements yesterday

that moved much of the southeast of England into the same status as most of the north.

Manchester remains there, as does Northwest Leicestershire, very much against what was told to be

happening by the Prime Minister's office back in the early days of the week.

We'll be speaking to Graham Brady, Tory MP, for Alteringham and Sail West,

to see when we might get out of all of this madness.

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