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The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: The Spectator has learned that the UK will not request an extension to the Brexit transition period. James Forsyth has the
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The United States has long regarded itself as better prepared for a pandemic than any other country in the world, but it assumed the disease would be flu, rather than a coronavirus. This was a failure of imagination. The Sars epidemic showed the world that coronaviruses can lead to acute and fatal respiratory diseases. The
From our UK edition
The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: The OBR has published its coronavirus analysis, predicting the economy will shrink by 35 per cent in Q2. Kate Andrews has
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The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis The lockdown could claim 150,000 lives through various side effects (including suspended NHS services), according to internal government
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The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis Six critically ill Covid-19 patients in Israel have survived after being treated with placenta-based cell therapy. Ministers are
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Home The number of people who had died from the coronavirus disease Covid-19 in the UK by Sunday 5 April was 4,313, compared with a total of 1,228 by 29 March, and of 281 by 22 March. In the following two days the total rose to 5,373. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was taken to
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Game on A few things which are still going on, in spite of coronavirus: — Football in Belarus, where the 2020 season recently began. Choice fixture over the weekend is Sunday’s clash between league-leaders FC Minsk and BATE. — Practice games in Sweden’s 5th and 6th divisions are going ahead as gatherings of fewer than
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Is ‘the Science’ scientific? Sir: I hope that those in the highest places will have read and will act upon Dr John Lee’s excellent summary (‘The corona puzzle’, 28 March). His article cuts through the information overload and explains the surreal situation the country is now in. Draconian decisions have been made on the basis
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Events make a mockery of predictions. And events of recent days have borne that truth out most starkly. Nobody could have predicted where our nation stands today. We have gone from being a supposedly divided country into one united in response to an unprecedented crisis. The news that the Prime Minister has been admitted to
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The unclued lights, when preceded by a US state, form MISSISSIPPI 11, CALIFORNIA 22, VIRGINIA 27, HAWAII 37, RHODE ISLAND 40, OREGON 10, KENTUCKY 14 and INDIANA 7D. First prize David Simmonds, Crayford, DartfordRunners-up Fran Morrison, London SW15; Andrew Herbert, Brooke, Norfolk
From our UK edition
The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis Boris Johnson spent a second night in intensive care overseen by the ‘most knowledgeable respiratory specialist in the
From our UK edition
The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: No. 10 says the PM is ‘good spirits’ in the Intensive Care Unit of St Thomas’ Hospital in London. He is
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Boris Johnson, who has tested positive for coronavirus, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of St Thomas’ Hospital in London on Monday night, after his symptoms worsened. According to Number 10 officials on Monday, Boris remains conscious and was moved to the ward as a precaution in case he requires ventilation. The Times reports today that he has
Deserted modern cities are usually the realm of post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies. Now, many of us live in them
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Keir Starmer, the newly elected leader of the Labour party, has taken no prisoners with his cabinet reshuffle. Corbyn allies like Richard Burgon are out, and Ed Miliband is back. Here is the full make-up of Starmer’s top team: Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Anneliese DoddsFormerly: John McDonnell An Oxford PPE graduate, Dodds is a long
From our UK edition
The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for further coronavirus tests last night. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will take
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Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, contracted the coronavirus disease Covid-19, as did Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary. The Prince of Wales had earlier been tested in Scotland and isolated himself with the disease for a week. Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, also isolated himself after suffering symptoms, as did Dominic Cummings, the
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The failures of Britain’s pandemic planning have been brutally exposed in the past few weeks. The scandalous lack of protective equipment for NHS workers, the failure to prepare for mass testing: there will be plenty of time, when this is over, to apportion blame for all this. But what is even more striking is the
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People power Boris Johnson said that the reaction to the coronavirus crisis showed ‘There really is such a thing as society’ — an apparent reference to an interview Mrs Thatcher gave to Woman’s Own in 1987. A reminder of what she actually said: ‘I think we have gone through a period when too many people
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Corona mysteries Sir: John Lee highlights the issue of dying of seasonal flu vs dying of coronavirus when assessing attributable deaths (‘The corona puzzle’, 28 March). The obvious solution would be a high autopsy rate. However, autopsies on known or suspected coronavirus deaths are not being done in case they lead to mortuary technologists and
