2452: Comme on dit solution
From our UK edition
The paired unclued lights (1D/6, 14/25, 36/32 and 39/1A) are, AS THEY SAY when the title of the puzzle is translated, four French idioms listed in Brewer.
The Spectator
Thursday
Wednesday
Covid-19 update: Will Boris take paternity leave?
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 and Carrie Symonds have announced the arrival of a baby boy, born this morning in a London hospital. James Forsyth has the details below.Cancer operations will take place at new ‘Covid-19-free’ hubs. The collapse in cancer care since the lockdown could lead to 18,000 more cancer deaths, according to new research. Analysis below.Millions more people can now apply for a coronavirus test. The government loosened rules to include over-65s, essential workers and care home residents.
Tuesday
Covid-19 update: How many coronavirus deaths will Britain end up with?
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 Covid-19 related deaths as of 17 April in England and Wales were 35% higher than the government’s hospital death figure. Details below.The Scottish government has recommended that people cover their faces with cloth garments when in public spaces. Dr John Lee weighs up the benefits of masks on Coffee House.A minute’s silence for key workers who have died during the Covid-19 outbreak was held this morning at 11 a.m.The families of NHS staff who have died of coronavirus will be given £60,000.
Monday
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 public address since his battle with Covid-19. Katy Balls has the details below.Professor Neil Ferguson, the scientist behind the influential Imperial College London model, has said that lifting the lockdown could risk an additional 100,000 deaths by the end of the year.Schools in Northern Ireland will stay closed until after the summer holidays, with officials estimating 90% of parents would not send children even if classes reopened.
Friday
Covid-19 update: New York: 21%. Stockholm: 26%. London?
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 The much-anticipated shipment of personal protective equipment from Turkey contained 32,000 gowns vs the expected 400,000 units.Meanwhile, 42% of NHS beds lie empty, as do two-thirds of mechanical ventilation units.Boris Johnson could return to No. 10 as early as Monday, according to the Telegraph.Ten million key workers and their households can now book a Covid-19 test online. The 5,000 that were made available this morning ran out in just two minutes.Rishi Sunak is considering 100% government-backed Covid-19 loans of up to £25,000 to small businesses.
Thursday
Covid-19 update: coronavirus’s second wave
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 Manchester and Liverpool are now seeing the most Covid-19 cases, according to the Health Service Journal.Social restrictions are to remain in place for at least the rest of the year, says chief medical officer Chris Whitty. Details below.Human trials begin today for vaccines in Germany and the UK. Matt Ridley weighs up the likelihood of Covid-19 treatments in the 10,000th issue of The Spectator magazine. More analysis below.
Portrait of the week: The Queen turns 94, Captain Tom raises £27m and Harry and Meghan block newspapers
From our UK edition
Home The number of people with the coronavirus disease Covid-19 who had died in hospitals by the beginning of the week, Sunday 19 April, was 15,464, compared with a total of 9,875 a week earlier. Two days later it was 16,509. But the number of people in London in hospital with Covid-19 fell for seven consecutive days and there were plenty of empty beds. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was reported by colleagues to be worried that relaxing lockdown measures too soon might lead to a second spike in the outbreak. Supplies of personal protective equipment were reported to be falling short; a delivery of 84 tons, including 400,000 gowns, from Turkey was delayed.
Who else has made history at Captain Tom Moore’s age?
From our UK edition
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.— Mike Cross, 60, is the oldest person reported to have walked to the South Pole, in 2003. Buzz Aldrin visited it (and fell ill there) at the age of 86, but he was flown there as a tourist. Long gone to press This is The Spectator’s 10,000th issue since first publication in 1828, making it Britain’s longest continuously published magazine.
The case for trusting the public is stronger than ever
From our UK edition
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 entertainment at the same time. 4. A Department devoted to Literatures… 5. Dramatic and Musical Criticism. 6. Scientific and Miscellaneous information. — R.S. Rintoul’s announcement of a new weekly, July 1828 In the history of publishing, no magazine has ever printed a 10,000th issue. Until now. The Spectator is unusual not only in that it is the world’s oldest weekly, but that it still follows the formula that R.S.
Letters: The joy of balconies
From our UK edition
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 of bishops. The closing of churches may be seen as a defining moment in the life of the Church of England. As the Archbishop of Canterbury broadcast from his kitchen on Easter Day, impervious to the damage his ‘leadership’ has caused, many Anglican clergy and people I know looked to the image of the Pope in an almost empty St Peter’s, and saw the true image of Christian service.
Spectator writers in lockdown – by the people stuck with them
From our UK edition
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 the house to be a critic. I am left at home with the boy to eat fish, liver and haggis, all of which he loves when she isn’t here to tell him that they are, objectively, bad. I wouldn’t mind if she hadn’t gone straight from the kitchen table to sit in her study and eat Monster Munch while watching Spooks.
2451: Cretinous solution
From our UK edition
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).
Wednesday
Covid-19 update: Most of the cabinet want a significant easing of the lockdown in May
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 Keir Starmer zeroed in on procurement failures in his first PMQs as Labour leader. He was in the chamber but most MPs asked questions from home, giving the session a Eurovision jury-style feel.A new 500-bed NHS Nightingale hospital in Harrogate is to remain empty as local hospitals manage the outbreak.Year 10 and Year 12 school pupils ‘might have lost out so much’ in the lockdown that they ‘need to repeat the whole year’, Sir Michael Wilshaw, a former chief schools inspector, has told Radio Four.
Tuesday
Covid-19 update: Sharp rise in non-Covid-19 deaths in UK care homes
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 New data from the ONS shows a spike in the death toll in England and Wales compared with the five-year average: 7,996 excess deaths for the week to 10 April. Details below.Parliament returns today. Up to 50 MPs are allowed in the chamber at any time, and some will join on Zoom. James Forsyth explains below.The NHS may not have enough face masks if the government advises the public to wear them. Dr John Lee weighs up the evidence of masks on Coffee House.
Monday
Covid-19 update: Only a third of children are given online learning
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 Only one third of school children have taken part in any online lessons since the lockdown began. Analysis below.The government will create 30,000 more morgue places, saying it’s a precaution not a prediction.The NHS hopes to use blood from Covid-19 survivors in trials to treat patients with the disease, following successful trials in China.Stockholm could achieve herd immunity by May, according to a study. Details below.A random test of 200 people in Boston found that 32 per cent had Covid-19 antibodies, suggesting they had already been infected with the virus.
Friday
Covid-19 update: Cabinet frustration at lack of lockdown debate
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 There is no guarantee that hospitals will not run out of personal protective equipment (PPE) this weekend, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.The UK has extended the lockdown for another three weeks, citing advice from scientists. Robert Peston asks if scientists are running the country.London Mayor Sadiq Khan has broken with official government guidance and urged Londoners to wear face masks while travelling on public transport.London hospitals succeeded in doubling the number of intensive care units, leaving the NHS Nightingale field hospital almost empty.
Thursday
Covid-19 update: EU offers ‘heartfelt apology’ to Italy
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: European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has offered a ‘heartfelt apology’ to Italy, saying the Commission was ‘not ready’ for the pandemic.Leaked US Homeland Security modelling suggests the coronavirus death rate could end up at 0.12 per cent – but with 160 million infections.Most who died with Covid-19 had at least two pre-existing health conditions, according to ONS data, with 91 per cent having at least one condition. Meanwhile, a second newborn has been diagnosed with the virus.Professor Neil Ferguson, No.
Trump has a point – the WHO has failed
From our UK edition
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 Asian countries that suffered most from Sars updated their pandemic response kits accordingly, with mass testing and patient-tracing technology. Neither Britain nor America thought to do likewise. In Britain, we’re starting to admit to flaws in our pandemic response. Donald Trump is less inclined to do so, and is instead directing his fury at China and promising to remove funding from the World Health Organisation.
How many racing drivers lived as long as Stirling Moss?
From our UK edition
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 advent of television in Britain. — Remarkably, it was something to which British TV beat its American counterpart: the first US game show was not broadcast until three years later on a New York station. Its name was an ominous warning to cheats: Truth or Consequences. Less crude Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed a cut in oil production of around 10 per cent. Who were the largest producers of crude oil last year? BARRELS PER DAY USA / 12.1m Russia | 10.8m Saudi Arabia | 9.6m Iraq 4.
Portrait of the week: Boris recovers, flour sales soar and France and India extend lockdowns
From our UK edition
Home The number of people with the coronavirus disease Covid-19 who had died in hospitals by the beginning of the week, Sunday 12 April, was 9,875, compared with a total of 4,313 a week earlier. Three days later it was 12,107. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was discharged from hospital after a week, three days of which were in intensive care. Thanking staff and nurses who saved his life ‘when things could have gone either way’, he said: ‘We will win because our NHS is the beating heart of this country. It is the best of this country. It is unconquerable. It is powered by love.’ He recuperated at Chequers despite harsh criticism of other ministers for moving between town and country houses.
