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Dear reader,
And so it is Christmas!
Will it be a white one tomorrow? See here what the Met Office are predicting.
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/weather/white-christmas-met-office-gives-odds-for-snow-in-northern-ireland-on-christmas-day-3505761
It is so rare we get a properly cold and wintry December 25 in Northern Ireland that I can remember clearly magical years when it was gloriously snowy - 1995 and 2010.
It won't be like that this year, and yet there is lots of festive atmosphere.
With hopeful signs (that we report today) that Omicron might not be as dangerous as feared, our front page has a picture of bustling Belfast shops. On page three we cover the upsurge in people travelling home to NI compared to last year
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/weather/surge-in-people-coming-home-to-northern-ireland-for-a-family-christmas-3505766
And our lead is the support package announced by Stormont for hospitality, the lack of which the day before had been bitterly attacked by business leaders
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/stormont-announces-ps40m-support-package-for-hospitality-sector-3506381
Covid is dominating our news, as is hard politics. And Peter Robinson, in his latest column, refers to both pandemic and protocol. In a striking intervention, he says that it is not tenable for unionists to stay in Stormont without radical reform of the latter
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/peter-robinson-the-noxious-poison-of-the-two-ps-pandemic-and-protocol-has-dominated-2021-3506425
Meanwhile, Dr Esmond Birnie has written about how one expert cost estimate for NI from Irish Sea borders is now £900 million per year, up from his own summer estimate of £850m
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/economist-trade-frictions-from-northern-ireland-protocol-now-cost-ps900m-according-to-latest-estimate-3505798
In other festive news, here is a list of community Christmas dinners around Northern Ireland for anyone feeling isolated or unable to afford celebrations
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/people/volunteers-rolling-out-community-christmas-dinners-once-again-for-2021-3503203
Meanwhile, Farming Life reports on how more than £3.1m was spent at a record-breaking auction of second-hand machinery, with one lot selling for £525,000.
https://www.farminglife.com/country-and-farming/record-breaking-prices-with-over-ps3000000-spent-at-major-machinery-auction-3500710
And in sport, Glentoran new boy Sean Murray wants to add to his medal haul
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/football/northern-ireland/glentoran-new-boy-sean-murray-wants-to-add-to-his-medal-haul-3501770
While in rugby, Ulster's Michael Lowry highlights the benefits from playing time
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/minutes-on-the-pitch-the-focus-for-michael-lowrys-ulster-development-3504988
We will continue to cover the efforts to find 'the paymaster' behind the Kevin Lunney kidnap, with a priets among those who have called on people with information to come forward
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/kevin-lunney-abduction-priest-makes-fresh-appeal-for-information-on-paymaster-behind-vicious-attack-on-mannok-director-3504748
And there is so much more news.
There will be no print News Letter tomorrow, Christmas Day, but the website will still be reporting events, as it is every day of the year.
We will be publishing the newspaper edition as normal after then, with a Monday paper including coverage of Boxing Day sport fixtures, and daily editions all of next week, including a normal Wednesday edition with Farming Life on December 29.
This coming week we will have pages of coverage of the newly declassified government files from London, Dublin and Belfast.
Next Saturday, on New Year’s Day, January 1 2022, there will be the typical bumper Weekend News Letter with Farming Life.
Thank you for your continued interest in The News Letter, our long established title.
If we can interest you, there's huge value in a subscription to The News Letter, through which you can secure unfettered access to our news, sport, opinion and lifestyle journalism, all produced for you here by our team across Northern Ireland.
We hope you have a good week.
Merry Christmas and I will talk to you again before the new year, Ben Lowry
Editor, The News Letter
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