NO

Would I turn someone away from a Christmas gathering because they were unvaccinated? Would I hell. At Christmas, no one is turned away from my table. It’s not in the spirit of the day or the season. All are welcome.

I have one good friend in my home town who isn’t vaccinated; she’s a refusenik and elderly — in her 70s. She has held out against all the exhortations of the Government and the advice of her family. But she is also an intelligent woman who doesn’t care to be bullied or coerced. I’m going to be inviting her for Christmas lunch this year.

My mother died of Parkinson’s disease two years ago; she was vulnerable. But would I have kept my friend at a distance to safeguard my mother if she were still here?

No. If they shared a Christmas lunch, I would have kept the windows open — like a sanatorium, as my mother used to complain — and probably killed us with pneumonia. And I would have distanced my friend at the other end of the table from my mother, with my vaccinated children in between. But my friend would still have been welcome.

My cousin in Ireland has a son, my godson, who has an autoimmune disease. last year, when her daughter came from london to spend Christmas with the family, she kept her son at a distance during quarantine. They ate Christmas lunch in separate rooms. But were still under the same roof. There is one thing we could do with close family, and that’s ask them to take a Covid test.

No, I wouldn’t do it with my friend — she’d be insulted. But I would certainly make sure my family takes a lateral flow test before we have her round. We should do our best not to put her at risk, too.

Covid kills. It killed my father-inlaw, who probably contracted the virus, despite all his precautions, from a family member who was neither careful nor jabbed; it was an awful loss.

I do not take the risk of infection lightly. But if we are mindful of the risks and take precautions to space the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, it should still be possible to keep Christmas as it should be kept, with all comers round the table.

The tradition of Christmas hospitality is fundamental to the season and I won’t compromise on it.

‘It’s not in the spirit of the day to turn people away