Two weeks ago I was handed a letter, along with other residents in my care home in Wiltshire, and asked to sign it. It stated that if I fell ill, I agreed that I did not want to be taken to hospital. No-one put me under pressure to sign it, but I did. Why? Because, … Read more
One interesting thing is that — in public at least — the Royal Family have kept quiet about the hasty departure to America of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The collective air emanating from the House of Windsor, like a smog of ever so jolly spring lilacs, seems to be one of understanding and … Read more
Restock the drinks cabinet. Break out the emergency hair dye. Joe Wicks, if you’re listening, don’t let up on those burpees… yet. Fellow citizens, you ain’t going anywhere. It’s official, people. Three more weeks of lockdown. Yup, that’s nearly another month of this carry-on and still no end in sight. To be fair, Raab had … Read more
This morning the government’s carefully constructed strategy for dealing with coronavirus fell apart when Health Secretary Matt Hancock lost his temper in two media confrontations. First, a feisty exchange with the Today programme’s Nick Robinson, and then on ITV’s Good Morning Britain he exploded in a combative exchange with Piers Morgan. Two meltdowns in less … Read more
Keeping us locked down will cause more deaths and cripple a generation. There is another way, says Hugh Osmond Over the past three weeks, I – like so many business owners and leaders – have been forced to shut down companies that took years to build up, putting loyal staff out of work, many of … Read more
How times change! I’ve just discovered an article from the April 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. Under the heading ‘What I Want In A Wife’, Cosmo asked: ‘What do Britain’s most eligible bachelors look for in a wife?’ The previous month, the magazine had been published in the UK for the very first time. Back … Read more
Whisper it… but could it be we have gone too far? That is the alarming question my colleagues and I are beginning to ask, firstly of ourselves and then, cautiously, of each other. In our understandable but frenzied drive to ‘Save the NHS’ from the scourge of coronavirus, are we inflicting long-term damage on millions … Read more
HENRY DEEDES: Humanity Hancock’s great care conversion Matt Hancock cut an anxious figure as he gave his press briefing on Wednesday There was a tweaked sense of humility and urgency about the Health Secretary He wanted it to be known he had paid attention to the social care catastrophe The press remains sceptical, asking how … Read more
‘Throughout this crisis,’ said Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a video message to the nation today, ‘we’ve been working incredibly hard to protect people in social care and today we can announce that everybody going from hospital into social care will be tested, and will be isolated while the result of that test comes … Read more
Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, looked mildly blank when the thorny issue of care homes was raised at yesterday’s Downing Street press briefing. Someone had made the not unreasonable point that NHS Nightingale hospital was largely empty, so why couldn’t it be used to provide support for elderly patients from care homes? … Read more