The Spectator

Friday

The Spectator

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

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

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Covid-19 update: coronavirus’s second wave

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.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: The Queen turns 94, Captain Tom raises £27m and Harry and Meghan block newspapers

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.

The Spectator

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

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 Spectator

The case for trusting the public is stronger than ever

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.

The Spectator

Letters: The joy of balconies

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.

The Spectator

Spectator writers in lockdown – by the people stuck with them

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.

The Spectator

2451: Cretinous solution

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

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Most of the cabinet want a significant easing of the lockdown in May

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

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Sharp rise in non-Covid-19 deaths in UK care homes

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

The Spectator

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

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

The Spectator

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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.

Wednesday

The Spectator

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

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

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.