NEW year, fresh start? It hasn't felt like it.

It was only a week ago we were days into 2021 and Prime Minister Boris Johnson was saying "schools are safe" and urging parents to send children back to school.

Less than 24 hours later they were closed.

In the Andrew Marr interview he also said measures were "probably going to get tougher" in the coming weeks.

Less than 24 hours later we were in lockdown.

What happened in that period that changed, and led to the dramatic move?

It has been obvious lockdown would happen for weeks.

I wrote on December 6, days after the end of the second lockdown: "As we came out of lockdown, the daily number of deaths announced was still shocking.

"We have seen twice this year what happens when we don't have a grip on this deadly virus, and things spiral out of control."

And here we are, day after day of 1,000 plus deaths being announced and 60,000 plus cases.

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But here is the new major issue - this lockdown is too weak.

This virus strain is causing infection rates to rocket out of control, and we are weeks away from the peak.

So even more drastic action needs to be taken - for example shutting nurseries and courts having only essential face-to-face hearings, as this did in the first lockdown.

You could easily imagine these things will be announced eventually, but why doesn't the government break the habit and act early for once?

The earlier you act the more lives are saved, time is bought to let the vaccines have an impact, and the earlier we get out of lockdown.