The lockdown is not going to end any time soon and I for one am profoundly grateful for that. Surely it would be too hasty and too rash to peel away now from the path of self-isolation and locked doors? With the number of deaths still terrifyingly high and heartfelt pleas from NHS workers for … Read more
Death has its draw-backs, particularly for those whose toupees survive them. Recently, an auction house in Bristol sold off a number of items that had once belonged to Peter Wyngarde, the smoothie actor who played the moustachioed detective Jason King in the TV series of the same name. The lots at the auction included Wyngarde’s … Read more
There is scant comfort for Britain and other Western democracies in seeing China – the source of the deadly Covid-19 virus – emerging so rapidly and strongly from the crisis. The Chinese economy is already up and running again even as the US, the UK and other nations are battling to hold back the tide … Read more
As the sun rose on another blameless California morning, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took their daily turmeric shots boosted with raw ginger, naked opportunism and freshly squeezed brass neck. The world was in turmoil around them, as Covid-19 continued to sweep across the globe. Yet not even a pandemic can stop Harry and … Read more
The whispering campaign had started even before Dominic Raab chaired his first video-conference with the coronavirus war Cabinet on Tuesday. The Oxford and Cambridge educated Foreign Secretary, a high flying lawyer before moving into politics, is one of the cleverest men on the Tory benches. And as First Secretary of State he is the highest-ranking Cabinet … Read more
Having observed Boris Johnson as a journalistic colleague over more than 30 years, I cannot think of anyone less temperamentally suited to the strictures and isolation of life in this lockdown. It goes without saying that his period of quarantine before being forced into hospital on Sunday evening, was an extreme and unusual punishment for … Read more
Every crisis has its flashpoint. For me — as, I suspect for many others — the news on Monday evening that the Prime Minister was being treated in intensive care for Covid-19 felt like one such moment. Or, as my teenage son put it: ‘This thing just got real.’ It came as much of a … Read more
Should a little green man — green, that is, in outlook as well as hue — visit Earth now, he might conclude that we have finally got our act together. He would see that the air is cleaner, waters clearer, streets and flight paths quieter and wildlife happier than at any time in living memory, … Read more
Let us be honest. The fact that Boris Johnson has been taken into intensive care suggests that he is gravely ill. We must pray for him. I certainly am. His plight is confirmation, if any were needed, that this is a very serious disease that can leave even patients it spares in a debilitated and … Read more
What a paddling pool of thoughts Dominic Raab must have been going through shortly after 7pm last night. This was moment that no de facto deputy leader ever fully prepares for. They may be informed of their duties should they find themselves unexpectedly plonked into the hot seat, but that is mere protocol. They never … Read more