All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
My father Robin Hanbury-Tenison had a podcast interview with The Spectator on Monday. He has a new book out – on pandemics, rather well timed – about which Sam Leith of this parish was keen to interview him. But in the end he had to postpone it. On Monday, he couldn’t get a sentence out without uncontrollably coughing.
No one would ever have expected a Conservative Chancellor to announce that the state will pay 80 per cent of people’s wages up to the average income. It is something that even Jeremy Corbyn wouldn’t have dared propose before this crisis hit. But the alternative to the package that Rishi Sunak announced last night was
This is a crisis like no other: the economy is crashing, with bars and restaurants closing. In spite of Rishi Sunak’s offer of help, thousands have already been laid off. Many self-employed and freelancers are looking at months of uncertainty. Yet at the same time, certain parts of the economy are surging – and hiring.
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It had to be. We were barely into the first week of the coronavirus emergency than the Prime Minister and others started invoking the ‘Blitz spirit’. You know, that incomparable time soon after the start of world war two when Brits stood firm and united against the worst that Nazi Germany could hurl at our
My dear cousin the pioneering newspaper photographer Alan Davidson has died. It is almost impossible to believe because he has been everywhere in my life since I was a child. At party conferences, he was always at the front, getting the best picture of the PM, and pissing off the likes of Alastair Campbell. At parties, including
At times of great stress it is necessary to find your enjoyments where you can. And as I mentioned in the magazine last week there are few joys in the world comparable with that which comes from watching the left eating itself. Which brings me to a small but diverting set of events which are
In some ways, it’s easy and even important to keep Rishi Sunak’s performance in announcing his coronavirus job retention scheme in perspective. It should, after all, be pretty easy to be popular in politics when you are offering to spend literally limitless amounts of money protecting people from economic hardship. A cynic would also say
In his third Covid bailout in just over a week, Chancellor Riski Sunak has shifted his focus from businesses to employees with an unprecedented three-month commitment to cover the bulk of pay for workers facing redundancy. He’ll cover up to 80 per cent of all salaried workers’ wages (up to £2,500 per month, around the UK’s medium income). This is
For surreal moments, this will take some beating: I’m in a pub watching the prime minister announce the closure of pubs. It was my first instinct when I saw an online news report saying all pubs would be forced to close as of this evening: to leave my office and get into a pub. I
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At least no one can say it isn’t bold. The United States is fiddling around with some possible cuts to payroll taxes. Most of Europe is stuck with some printed money from the ECB. But the UK is embarking on one of the most radical experiments in modern economic theory, and one that will no
Boris Johnson has announced this evening that pubs and restaurants must close as of this evening. After beginning the week by telling the public they should avoid such venues, the Prime Minister has now instructed these establishments to close their doors: ‘We are collectively telling cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon
Britain is midway through a deep recession: of that there is no doubt. But what next? Oxford Economics has today been one of the first to offer an answer, predicting a V-shaped economic recovery (sharp economic downturn and sharp economic revival) and near-complete economic repair. It is, of course, a guess: all forecasts are. But
Every weekday afternoon a professional Twitter mob gathers to give a running commentary on the Prime Minister’s daily coronavirus press conference. Its leading lights will critique Boris Johnson’s every utterance to see what might catch on. Perhaps it will be a snarky comment about how modified advice in the light of new data really shows
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across Europe, the United States has reduced its participation in a Nato military exercise that was set to be one of the alliance’s largest since the end of the Cold War. In April and May, the Defender-Europe 20 exercise was meant to feature 37,000 troops from 18 countries, including 20,000
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If Brexit did not do it, the panic buying has trampled to death national myths patriots once cherished. We now see that ‘quintessentially English’ does not now mean a reserved character with a stiff upper lip joining an orderly queue. But a demonically possessed shopper lunging towards the last four-pack of loo roll. Conservatives can
It’s very interesting, and important, that the Bank of England is encouraging banks to turn half a blind eye to likely coronavirus losses on loans to businesses and mortgage borrowers – in the hope that banks don’t suddenly stop lending for fear future losses will deplete their capital. After the 2008 banking crisis, this is something I
As the United Kingdom plunges into an unprecedented crisis, the time has surely come to halt the reforms to self-identification of gender. Schools are closing; London could be locked down; even The Archers has an uncertain future – this really is a crisis. At such times, we can no longer afford the luxury of devoting time
The coronavirus epidemic storming the world is far more frightening than the bank crisis over a decade ago. It not only poses a risk to people’s health, but if left to fester could tank economies and cause unbearable financial strains for millions. But in the United States, the country’s divided congress could – as it has done
Since the first outbreak of coronavirus, Taiwan has been seen as an unlikely source of stability. Over 400,000 Taiwanese live and work on the Chinese mainland and, due to diplomatic tensions with Beijing, Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organisation. Despite this, as infections began to rise in Japan and then exploded in
The announcement today by Boris Johnson that we are gearing up Covid-19 testing from 5,000 a day, to 10,000, to 25,000 to 250,000, and the endorsement from the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance that this could theoretically happen in weeks, was the most important Covid-19 announcement on Thursday. Many in the NHS and
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Boris Johnson struck an optimistic note in his fourth press conference of the week. The Prime Minister attempted to answer the question of how long Brits ought to expect to have to change their lifestyle in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Johnson said that he believed the UK could ‘turn the tide’ on
Politicians are excellent at winning elections. But it’s no secret that often the resulting governments are terrible at getting things done. The failure of Western governments to roll out mass testing before the coronavirus exploded into a global pandemic proves this. So do numerous other shortcomings that can help prevent this global pandemic from becoming
Perspective is a bit in short supply at the moment but if you want a brief respite from the onslaught of bad news, take a look at these statistics. They are Office for National Statistics figures for the total numbers of deaths from respiratory diseases in England and Wales for February this year, compared with
Be honest: when you first heard about self isolation, did you think, just for a second: ‘that sounds good’? Many of us made the same mordant jokes about how we’d watch TV, catch up on reading books, generally enjoy some quiet and peace away from the constant noise of normal life. I certainly made those
Any hope that the two week ‘confinement’ imposed by President Macron would heal France’s deep divisions has vanished as swiftly as food on the supermarket shelves here. There is growing anger in the provinces at the sudden arrival of thousands of well-heeled Parisians, who have fled the capital for their second homes. Many seaside residents
The silence is striking, not yet deafening. Some of the royals have engaged with the one issue that preoccupies us all. Prince William, in a video message, has launched an appeal (in collaboration with the National Emergencies Trust) to raise funds for local charities responding to the impact of coronavirus. And Harry and Meghan, via
For those wondering how coronavirus will affect the Brexit negotiations, one immediate issue has arisen today: Michel Barnier has contracted the disease. The EU’s chief negotiator revealed the diagnosis on social media this morning, and said that ‘I am doing well and in good spirits. I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team.’
Hooded and masked police officers tackle a man suspected of breaking coronavirus restrictions. This was the scene in Tel Aviv earlier this week, as Israeli authorities ramp up their hard-line approach to dealing with the virus. But can such measures work? Or has Israel’s approach gone too far? Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has certainly been clear