We're at the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end in the coronavirus crisis when another 288 deaths inflict unbearable heartache on families.
Yet that’s the lowest jump since March and we’re past the peak of Covid-19’s rampage, Ministers placing London’s pop-up Nightingale Hospital on standby proving the worst is over as thoughts turn to easing lockdown rules.
We aren’t returning to how we lived before the plague any time soon and, anyway, the hope is we can emerge a politer, kinder country, valuing key workers and each other.
But change is coming and regional variations – tougher lockdowns in hot-spots and lighter controls in areas where the virus is virtually beaten – are worth considering.
Italy’s going back to work as the UK’s poised to register the highest death rate in Europe as our official toll of 28,734 is already close.
With the Government failing to learn immediate lessons from nations having more success, it would be unforgivable if it didn’t now copy what works and shuns what doesn’t.
Tory shame
Disgraced Trade Minister Conor Burns’ resignation and looming seven-day Commons suspension cannot be the end of a sordid episode.
The threat by Boris Johnson’s long-term champion, and a Margaret Thatcher fanboy, to abuse Parliamentary privilege to intimidate a company chairman raises serious questions about whether he is fit to remain a Tory MP.
Bullying behaviour is utterly indefensible. It will lead many to wonder if Burns is suitable to represent the good people of the Bournemouth West constituency in Dorset.
Surely they, and Parliament, deserve better.
Paradise lost...
Halting Love Island until 2021 because of the pandemic will leave lots of posturing young men and women at loose ends.
With gyms and salons closed, wannabe contestants could practise their conversations – at a responsible social distance, of course.
