Who is your 11th friend? Last week it emerged Ministers are giving serious consideration to the creation of a ‘bubble’ of ten family members and acquaintances who we will be allowed to associate with as part of the slow easing of lockdown. So think about it for a moment. Not of the ten lucky souls … Read more
When the coronavirus crisis began, Boris Johnson and his Ministers wanted to follow the science. But thanks to the paranoia and false pride of the Chinese government, there was precious little science to follow. ‘We found it very difficult to get any hard information out of China at the beginning,’ a Minister told me. ‘When … Read more
It was when I bought a gun that I knew Corona Madness had finally claimed me. I’d been speaking to a Government official who presented an increasingly apocalyptic vision of how the Covid-19 crisis could spiral out of control. Panic-buying was just the start, they feared. Soon there would be looting, the police would be … Read more
It’s been like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole,’ the exhausted Government adviser admitted to me. ‘One moment we’re under attack over contact tracing. It’s been like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole,’ the exhausted Government adviser admitted to me. ‘ One moment we’re under attack over contact tracing. Last week was the blackest week of the coronavirus … Read more
For centuries, the United Kingdom was the leader of the world in the freedom of its citizens. We were permitted to do what we wanted to, unless the law explicitly prohibited it. Unless the sign said ‘Do not walk on the grass’, we could stroll across the lawn. Not for us some irksome, officious policemen … Read more
It’s an awful Bill,’ a Tory MP told me, a day after voting through the Coronavirus Act. ‘It’s utterly tragic something like this has passed the House of Commons. But we had no choice. Boris had no choice. This is a real public health crisis.’ Unfortunately, this pragmatic analysis of the most draconian piece of … Read more
The military are mobilising. Preparing for the deployment of Army units to protect hospitals, supermarkets and other vital facilities. Not from a hostile invading force, or terrorist fanatics. But from the British people, in the event the coronavirus emergency starts to spiral out of control. It sounds like something out of science-fiction film. Or a … Read more
Early this week, Boris Johnson will take his seat in the COBRA briefing room in the Cabinet Office of 70 Whitehall and be told by his senior medical advisers that the time has come to officially move to the Delay phase of the Government’s four-part coronavirus action plan. He will then be given an extensive … Read more
Priti Patel doesn’t like to dwell on the racism she used to experience as a child. ‘She doesn’t talk about it much,’ a close friend told me. ‘But she used to get a lot of name-calling at school and when she was out with her parents. She has told me it was pretty horrible.’ That was … Read more