The owner of Intu Braehead fell into administration in June amid extreme pressures on the retailing sector By Kristy Dorsey With circumstances still changing at dizzying pace in what is normally a fairly predictable spell in the business calendar, this festive season is proving an anxious close to what was already a remarkably arduous year. Many who would normally be going at full tilt – retailers, restaurants and pubs – are again shuttered and dark in their most important trading period of the year. Others have been able to remain open, but if any part of their business entails dealings with Europe, last-minute scrambling over Brexit has provided little warning of what January 1 will bring. The bombshell announcements just six days before Christmas on tighter restrictions to control a pernicious new mutation of the coronavirus has heaped further uncertainty upon what already appeared a hopelessly ambiguous landscape.