Yesterday morning we awoke to the usual fusillade of disturbing news in what is the worst crisis this country has experienced since the end of the Second World War. The shortage of personal protection equipment for our courageous medical staff is worsening. The testing fiasco continues, and the Government seems unlikely to meet its self-imposed … Read more
The Government’s decision to extend the lockdown for a further three weeks has, unsurprisingly, intensified the complaint that ‘shutting down the economy will cost more lives than the coronavirus‘ — or, in the words of President Trump, that the ‘cure may be worse than the disease’. The argument, in essence, is this: recessions kill. Intuitively, … Read more
The last time the Countess of Bradford wore a Stewart Parvin creation, it was on the day of her wedding. It was also a very different look from the Parvin ensemble she has been wearing this weekend, though she is equally thrilled with the result. ‘These aren’t any old scrubs. They’re Stewart Parvin scrubs,’ she … Read more
Like the majority of the population, I have been hunkered down at home for the past month, determined to do my bit to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Aside from the odd walk for exercise, I have been nowhere, but seldom have I felt more in tune with nature and ‘real life’ thanks to my … Read more
I find it incredible that it is now five weeks since I wrote here: ‘We have gone quite mad. I know that many people are thinking this, but dare not say so. I will be accused of all kinds of terrible things for taking this view – but that is another aspect of how crazy … 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
Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher was on a mission to investigate a Taliban compound near Sangin in Afghanistan in 2008 when he accidentally triggered a booby-trapped grenade. He and his men were heading back to base under cover of darkness when he stumbled into a four-metre tripwire linked to the explosive. Instead of running for cover, the … Read more
Even today, almost a century on, the shadow of the Great Depression hangs heavy. To most of us, the very phrase conjures up images of the winding dole queues, haggard faces and starving children that we associate with the 1930s. And, of course, we all know how that particular story ended. The crowds in Berlin, … 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
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