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Yesterday morning could not have got off to a more harrowing start as Michelle Fay arrived to take over from the night shift. Not only had two more residents died in the early hours, but one was a particular favourite. ‘She was ‘Our Mary’,’ says Michelle softly. ‘We’ve known her for years — her children … Read more
We are now almost numb to the pace of daily developments. The graph lines of infection and mortality grow steeper as the global situation verges on the Biblical; many of our most prominent public figures are going down like nine pins; our economy lurches from one epochal blow to the next. As we all know, … Read more
His was perhaps the most stylish royal solution to the handshake ban which prefaced this crisis: a traditional Hindu ‘namaste’, or pressing of the palms with a nod of the head. As we now learn, a ‘namaste’ was not quite enough. The Prince of Wales thus becomes the world’s most high-profile Covid-19 patient to date. … Read more
Every pandemic in history has had its share of miracle potions and magic cures, most of which, sadly, have been anything but. Nonetheless, there is a real sense of the miraculous about the contraption sitting before me in a factory workshop on the outskirts of Worcester. It is the prototype of a mass- production hospital … Read more
Normally, they would have been alive with children clutching fresh daffodils and a box of chocs for a beloved mother or grandmother. Yesterday, however, churches up and down the land stood empty on what should have been one of the busier days of the year – Mothering Sunday – as ministers went through the devotional … Read more
Historians still quibble over whether Napoleon Bonaparte actually said it or not. Yet it has stuck. And it was certainly not meant as a compliment. ‘England,’ scoffed the former French Emperor in his twilight years, ‘is a nation of shopkeepers.’ To which, right now, one can only respond: ‘Amen to that.’ For as we confront … Read more
Exactly six months from today, he will see his greatest wish come true when he watches the unveiling of the tribute to the 22,442 men and women who never came home. But yesterday, D-Day veteran Harry Billinge was the one being honoured as he met the Queen at Buckingham Palace and received the MBE for … Read more
Soaked, woke and angry though they might have been, the younger residents of Bristol were in carnival mood as the Greta Thunberg phenomenon descended yesterday. Britain’s greenest city (Bristol has just announced both an ‘ecological emergency’ and a ban on diesel cars) was both thrilled and honoured to welcome the pint-sized Pied Piper of eco-activism … Read more
Like every Sandhurst cadet, the young Prince Harry had the age-old maxim – variously attributed to Erwin Rommel, the Duke of Wellington and the 6th century BC Chinese general Sun Tzu – drummed in to him throughout his military training: time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted. So how is it that, after all those … Read more
From the moment that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intention to renounce royal duties for a more ‘progressive role’ overseas, one thing was never in doubt: that ‘Sussex Royal’ brand would have to go. It might have sounded just fine and dandy to the team of super-slick US rights agents, intellectual property lawyers … Read more