Here's Hitchin MP Bim Afolami's Christmas message to Nub News readers

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First of all, I want to thank everyone who has engaged with me this year – including by reading my regular monthly columns on Hitchin Nub News.

In this Christmas message I want to talk about our country, our politics and our government.

The state of the United Kingdom is strong. Despite our travails and difficulties, I detect a further coming together after the divisive years of the Brexit campaign and its aftermath.

The way that the country, and this constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden, responded to the national vaccination rollout was phenomenal.

I volunteered for several weeks in the Harpenden vaccination centre and I saw first-hand the dedication of not just our fantastic NHS staff but also hundreds of local volunteers, doing their bit for the community. The recent booster campaign is again showing a similar commitment.

It has been a sad year for our politics, with the murder of Sir David Amess in a horrific attack.

To be frank, it has forced me to make some small changes to the ways in which I operate with surgeries and other open invitations to meet constituents, but fundamentally I will remain open and do as many in person meetings as I can. You can't really do the job any other way.

On the Government.

It is fair to say that no other Government since the War has had to manage such a difficult domestic situation as what has been wrought by Covid.

Overall, the Government and Prime Minister responded well, as the vaccination programme and the new booster campaign is showing.

It was the right decision to open up fully in the summer, when Keir Starmer and Labour seemed to want us to be in perpetual lockdown.

Our liberties do not belong to the Government. They belong to us, and any attempt to take them away should be as temporary as possible.

At the moment, although the decisions on how to deal with Omicron are finely balanced, the speed of this milder variant's spread combined with the speed of the booster campaign (1m people now being boosted each day – a target set and delivered on by the Prime Minister that was initially ridiculed by NHS bosses) means that this immediate crisis should be over within only a few weeks.

Our economy will continue to be the fastest growing in the G7, and we are in the right shape to deal with what 2022 throws at us.

Finally, I hope that everyone has a happy Christmas and New Year.

We live in interesting times. This is probably tempting fate, but I am hoping that 2022 will be a much better year for all of us, as I am sure that you are too!

Bim Afolami MP