Shopping break - your views online

Eleven major retail chains and supermarkets closed on 26 December to give their staff time to enjoy the festive season

Edinburgh's St James Quarter shopping centre

David Carnegie

Saddest thing I ever saw was hundreds of folk queuing outside Next at 3am on Boxing Day. Bloody enjoy spending time with your loved ones for at least one day!

Linda Hendry Lennen

Retail staff need family time too. Shopping can surely wait one day and a big thank you to those who still work in our hospitals care homes and all essential services.

Lynsey Gardner

I’m pretty sure I remember all shops were closed on Boxing Day when I was a kid. Should still be like that.

Ann Murdoch

All shops should close on Boxing Day so people can enjoy Christmas Day without having to think, I have to get up early in the morning because I’m working.

Mavis Anne Graham

Good for them. No need for shops open on Boxing Day.

Alison Weston

I should have read this before I went to Marks!

Abi Thruppenceworth

Excellent! Shop staff have a right to enjoy time with their loved ones too during the holidays.

Colin Gasman Mackay

Don’t blame the shops, they only open on Boxing Day (or any other day) because they will make money - if customers don’t go out shopping, the issue will resolve itself.

Jim Keddie

Well, considering M&S had been open until 11pm for the previous few nights, they deserved a day off.

Christine Docherty

And so they should. We need nothing from the shops that can't wait until December 27.

Donna T M Winning

Good. Costco do this every year and every year people ask why we close. Erm, because we have a life too.

Margaret Wallace

Delighted to hear it. Shop assistants etc all deserve a well-earned break.

Ash Douglas

But I needed to go to the Boxing Day sales and get five per cent off an item they’ve marked up by 40 per cent before Xmas!

Hunt saboteur

Environment Minister Mairi McAllan said loop-holes around fox hunting will be closed as new legislation goes through its final stage in 2023.

Patricia Anderson

Good. Ban it altogether.

Alan Artist Lee

For good hopefully!

Barry Kirk

Good, grouse and pheasant shooting next.

Stevie Rock

… and destroy the rural economy.

Sal Paradise

Only a psychopath would enjoy torturing and killing animals for fun.

Peter Lewis

An urban parliament passing laws for the countryside and rural areas. What does McAllan know about sheep farming? More "virtue signalling" from the SNP to attack false stereotypes and appeal to the prejudices of their city-based supporters.

Stef Spode

How is it 2022 and we’re still talking about banning fox hunting?

Thomas Sweeten

Always enjoyed the Ayr-shire hunt on Boxing Day.

Alastair Browne

These idiots should keep their noses out of matters that don't concern them.

Angelo Greig

When freedom of choice and action results in an animal being ripped to shreds by a pack of hounds so that comically dressed, posh t**** riding on horses and blowing horns can enjoy themselves, then the line is firmly drawn. There's no place in society for this barbaric so-called ‘sport’. If the number of foxes has to be controlled, it can be done in a humane way.

Lesley Anthony

Exactly. I always find it wrong that people find watching a small animal dying in agony is “fun”. A bit sick I think.

Vera Farrer

Totally agree, they say psychopaths torture animals first.The number of animals killed in Africa in the name of medicine is appalling, it’s their world too.

Ed Marnie

Ridiculous in this day and age. Idiots claim it is essential for the countryside.

Arthur Conboy

Another vote grabber law which has failed in England Wales and Northern Ireland.

Rory J Oatts

Hunting is part of British cultural heritage.

Gill Brownlie

Children sent up chimneys used to be part of “British culture”. Doesn't mean its acceptable .

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