The Spectator

Friday

The Spectator

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

The Spectator

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.

The Spectator

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.

The Spectator

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.

The Spectator

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.

The Spectator

Letters: The ban on public worship has enabled more of us to experience spiritual riches

From our UK edition

Divine works Sir: Luke Coppen writes that livestreamed services ‘lack the vital communal dimension of worship’ and ‘are, at times, excruciatingly dull’ (‘Risen again’, 11 April). I would beg to differ. Catholics, at least, have had the rare opportunity to tune in to some beautifully sung Latin Masses in the Extraordinary Form which they would otherwise struggle to attend. As a Hampshire resident, for example, I have greatly appreciated the Birmingham Oratory’s livestreams. When celebrated well, these Masses are divine works of art in themselves, but are also highly prayer-focused and God-centred, with the celebrant facing the same way as the congregation — towards the altar.

The Spectator

2450: Titled Men solution

From our UK edition

Alexandre DUMAS père wrote The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, whose eponymous characters were Athos, Porthos, Aramis and (Edmond) Dantès.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: UK will not request an extension to the Brexit transition period

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 Spectator has learned that the UK will not request an extension to the Brexit transition period. James Forsyth has the details below.Donald Trump has announced the US will suspend its funding for the World Health Organisation as it investigates its organisation’s handling of Covid-19.Matt Hancock has pledged to prioritise care home residents and staff members for Covid-19 tests.A leaked document from Public Health England reveals a last-resort plan to reuse PPE.A top scientific adviser has said that sunbathing should be allowed in public parks.

The Spectator

The World Health Organisation has plenty of questions to answer

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.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: UK economy set to shrink by 35 per cent in Q2, says OBR

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 the details on Coffee House, and James Forsyth explains below what this means for the lockdown.There have now been outbreaks of Covid-19 at more than 2,000 of Britain’s 11,300 care homes. Around 10 per cent of UK Covid-19 deaths take place outside of hospital, according to data released by the ONS.An editorial in the British Medical Journal has called the use of chloroquine to treat coronavirus ‘premature and potentially harmful’.

Friday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Lives vs lives – the dilemma of ending the lockdown

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 lockdown could claim 150,000 lives through various side effects (including suspended NHS services), according to internal government modelling. Fraser Nelson reports below.Covid-19 antibody testing in a German town suggests a 15 per cent infection rate and a 0.37 per cent death rate.Boris Johnson last night moved out of intensive care and is now in a regular ward at St Thomas’ Hospital.The Home Secretary has warned the police against being heavy-handed over the Easter weekend.

Thursday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Six coronavirus patients survive after placental cell therapy

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  Six critically ill Covid-19 patients in Israel have survived after being treated with placenta-based cell therapy.Ministers are to start a review of the UK lockdown measures. But with Boris Johnson still in hospital, no change is expected.A&E attendance was down almost a third last month, compared with March 2019. Calls to NHS 111 more than doubled.The boss of a healthcare firm has promised to make 100,000 UK Covid-19 antigen tests by the end of this month.A dispatch from New York’s front line, by intensive care doctor Qanta Ahmed.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Queen speaks, mobile masts burn and Boris Johnson goes into hospital

From our UK edition

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 hospital after his Covid-19 symptoms had persisted for ten days, and then to intensive care. His fiancée, Carrie Symonds, roughly six months pregnant, had spent a week in bed with Covid-19 symptoms. The aim was for there to be 100,000 coronavirus tests a day in England by the end of April, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said; by 1 April 10,650 people a day were being tested.

The Spectator

Is Bernie Ecclestone the world’s oldest father?

From our UK edition

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 50 people are still allowed. Fifth division Skabersjo IF, who last week played sixth division Vastra Ingelstad, aren’t allowed their usual supporters, however – last season they had an average gate of 70. — Bets were still being taken last week for the Setka Cup, a table tennis competition in Moscow, and for Taipei’s Super Basketball. Father figures Bernie Ecclestone is to become a father again at the age of 89.

The Spectator

Letters: Our churches bring comfort – they must reopen

From our UK edition

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 of ‘the Science’, apparently without realising that it is not science at all. The dangers of mere extrapolations, both mathematical and humanitarian, are widely understood. Modelling is, in this instance, a sophisticated form of extrapolation and even more dangerous. A specific model cannot be dignified with the term ‘science’ until it has withstood thorough testing.

The Spectator

Only Boris can end the lockdown

From our UK edition

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 intensive care has united the country in shock — and in hope for his recovery. From the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Boris Johnson led in the way he always has. He threw himself into efforts to counter the virus. He dispensed optimism and hope where there was understandable fear.

The Spectator

2449: stateless solution

From our UK edition

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.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Coronavirus costs skyrocket

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 country’.The EU’s top science adviser has resigned over a disagreement with Brussels leaders over Covid-19 strategy.Meanwhile, talks between EU finance ministers over a €1.5 trillion bailout package for the southern member states have stalled after a marathon 16-hour discussion.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Boris ‘in good spirits’ – but still in ICU

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 receiving standard oxygen treatment but is not on a ventilator. Isabel Hardman has the latest.Donald Trump has asked two pharmaceutical companies in London developing potential Covid-19 therapies to offer assistance to the PM.A new report from University College London finds the school closures ‘do not appear to have a significant effect’ on the spread of Covid-19.

The Spectator

Full list: senior government figures affected by coronavirus

From our UK edition

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 not been intubated and only needed four litres of oxygen – the normal threshold for intensive care is 15 litres.