Breaking news
Plans have been drawn up to deploy 20,000 troops to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic. They will be drafted in to guard key sites, including hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets. Soldiers are being trained to drive oxygen tankers around the country and Army reservists may be called up to join a special ‘Covid support force’. Richard … Read more
Today’s edition of You Couldn’t Make It Up comes courtesy of Islamic State, which has advised jihadists to steer clear of Europe in case they catch coronavirus. ISIS, the terrorist outfit I’ve always called Izal — how appropriate that now sounds — is telling its disciples to ‘stay away from the land of the epidemic’. … Read more
This is what it must have been like in 1940. Europe has fallen, the United States has gone into isolation and Britain stands alone. Italy is in lockdown and troops are on the streets. Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have closed their borders. Across the Continent, schools, shops, offices, factories and restaurants have closed; sporting … Read more
The actor Philip Glenister says he’d like to reprise his best-known role as DCI Gene Hunt, from Life On Mars. But he’s worried the outspoken character would be too toxic for today’s woke sensibilities. Even when the show premiered in 2006, there were complaints about Hunt’s unreconstructed sexism and racism. His co-stars were obliged constantly … Read more
Coronavirus is being blamed for the collapse of Flybe, despite the fact that the airline has been in trouble for years. The 2,000 staff who find themselves out of work are rightly furious. One raged: ‘Is coronavirus the new go-to excuse after Brexit?’ Yes, I’m afraid it is. Flybe may be the first failing company … Read more
This morning I was due to have my annual medical check-up. Having read in the Sunday papers that, because of coronavirus, the over-60s should avoid routine visits to surgeries, I emailed my doctor to confirm the appointment. Naturally, I assumed this latest piece of official advice was alarmist nonsense and my MoT would go ahead … Read more