Boris Johnson has not looked as cheerful for a long time as he did in the Commons today. His is a sunny nature and he does not like to be cast in the part of Charles Dickens’s Thomas Gradgrind — a sober man obsessed with numbers. That is a role he cedes happily to Sir … Read more
There’s an apt and vivid phrase which Boris Johnson uses in private to describe a mood that has engulfed much of the country. He says we must beware of ‘morbid funk’. He appears to mean there is a risk of the nation being so obsessed with Covid-19, and so fearful of its consequences, that we’ll avoid … Read more
Has the BBC finally given up any pretence of impartiality, and become the official mouthpiece of the Black Lives Matter protest movement, which has been mounting demonstrations around the country over the past week? Sunday was tumultuous. A mob in Bristol tore down the statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader and philanthropist who died … Read more
Brexit! So you thought it had happened? Not exactly. Britain may have left the EU, but its crucial future trading relations with the bloc are still being discussed, and in an unproductive and acrimonious way. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has popped up in a Sunday newspaper warning Boris Johnson that he must keep … Read more
This country faces its worst crisis since World War II. Tens of thousands have died, and although the pandemic is being brought under control there will be many more deaths. Our economy is in freefall, and even the most optimistic observers believe we face years of pain and slog just to get back to where … Read more
Follow the science. It has become a mantra for Boris Johnson and senior ministers throughout this crisis. There are variations. One of them is: ‘We are guided by the science.’ Sometimes it’s ‘the best scientific advice’. Rather as in the Star Wars movies when the goodies constantly say ‘May the force be with you’ to … Read more
‘Sorry Anthony, it’s part of the job’: Glover Teixeira pauses for a moment to APOLOGISE to his startled opponent WHILE he’s pummelling him during their UFC clash in Florida Usually UFC opponents trash talk each other but Glover Teixeira was polite He took the bizarre decision to apologise to Anthony Smith on Wednesday night Brazilian … Read more
On Sunday morning I awoke with a headache, slight temperature and stomach pain. I also had a sore throat, which started several days earlier. I would normally have assumed I had picked up a bug. But in the present climate I naturally wondered whether I had been struck by Covid-19. Though the symptoms weren’t severe, … Read more
The other day I learnt that an old friend had died. But although I can accept this as a matter of fact, I can’t really take it in because there has been no shared recognition among those who knew her that her life is over. There hasn’t been a funeral. Tens of thousands of people … Read more
Many people will have been uplifted by Boris Johnson’s stirring speech yesterday outside No 10. He provided the leadership that has inevitably been lacking in recent weeks. But it was not exactly the same old Boris. He looked a little pasty and drawn, which is hardly surprising. He also seemed, if not exactly short of … Read more