The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Boris is back

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 has asked the public to ‘contain [their] impatience’ to exit the lockdown, in his first live

Covid-19 update: New York: 21%. Stockholm: 26%. London?

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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 much-anticipated shipment of personal protective equipment from Turkey contained 32,000 gowns vs the expected 400,000 units. Meanwhile,

Covid-19 update: coronavirus’s second wave

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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  Manchester and Liverpool are now seeing the most Covid-19 cases, according to the Health Service Journal. Social restrictions

Who else has made history at Captain Tom Moore’s age?

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Oldies and goodies Captain Tom Moore, 99, raised more than £26 million by walking 100 laps of the garden of his old people’s home. Who are the oldest people to have achieved various feats? — Yuichiro Miura climbed Everest aged 80 in 2013.— Dr Fred Distelhorst climbed Kilimanjaro at the age of 88 in 2017.—

The case for trusting the public is stronger than ever

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Our Plan is entirely new, comprising – 1. The whole News of the Week: selected, sifted, condensed and arranged as to be readable throughout. 2. A full and impartial exhibition of all the leading Politics of the Day. 3. A separate Discussion of Interesting Topics of a general nature, with a view to instruction and

Letters: The joy of balconies

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The closing of churches Sir: Stephen Hazell-Smith is quite right in writing that churches should re-open (Letters, 18 April), however the issue is now more fundamental. Recent weeks have demonstrated a crisis of leadership in almost every aspect of national life, excluding the Queen, who has exercised a spiritual leadership made necessary by the failure

Spectator writers in lockdown – by the people stuck with them

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Andrew Watts (Tanya Gold) ‘I can’t eat this,’ said The Spectator’s restaurant critic, putting down her fork after one mouthful. Our son, who had not yet decided whether he liked mackerel, immediately declared that it was yucky-poo. The correction of taste is, after all, the function of criticism. When we’re not in lockdown, Tanya leaves

2451: Cretinous solution

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Unclued lights are anagrams of the names of countries (anagram of Cretinous): UNHOARDS (1A: anagram of Honduras), ATWAIN (5: Taiwan), OBANG (37: Gabon), ELCHI (38: Chile), DAIMONIC (43: Dominica), RUBINE (10: Brunei), TANAGRINE (11: Argentina), LAIRAGE (15: Algeria), SERIAL (30: Israel) and RAIN (36: Iran). First prize Sue Pounder, Ashton-under-LyneRunners-up Tony Alers-Hankey, London W4; Andrew

Covid-19 update: Only a third of children are given online learning

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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  Only one third of school children have taken part in any online lessons since the lockdown began. Analysis

Covid-19 update: Cabinet frustration at lack of lockdown debate

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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 There is no guarantee that hospitals will not run out of personal protective equipment (PPE) this weekend, Health

Covid-19 update: EU offers ‘heartfelt apology’ to Italy

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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: European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has offered a ‘heartfelt apology’ to Italy, saying the Commission was ‘not ready’ for

How many racing drivers lived as long as Stirling Moss?

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TV quizzes An ITV drama told the story of Major Charles Ingram, who was convicted of cheating in the gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? TV gameshows go back a bit further than many people imagine. The first, Spelling Bee, was broadcast by the BBC on 31 May 1938, just two years after the

2450: Titled Men solution

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Alexandre DUMAS père wrote The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, whose eponymous characters were Athos, Porthos, Aramis and (Edmond) Dantès. First prize Magdalena Deptula, Eton, Berkshire Runners-up Storm Hutchinson, Dulas, Anglesey; Ian Shiels, Leeds