The one thing Boris couldn’t see coming

IT WAS achieved with almost military precision. A (red) wall was breached and a platoon of trusted lieutenants and foot soldiers was unleashed on the nation, who were to perform brilliantly under continued fire. On hearing their extraordinary success, the commanding officer (or party leader) punched the air with glee and bellowed a roar of approval.

You cannot help wonder, almost three months to the day, whether Boris Johnson would be in such celebratory mood had he been aware of what was in store because, despite not even having reached the landmark first 100 days, he knows his administration could be judged by events out of his control.

While floods brought devastation

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WHAT is the purpose of the European Union? US President Donaldtrump announces a hastily hatched, and seemingly ill-conceived, plan to ban all people from mainland Europe being able to fly into the United States.

The President neither discussed with nor warned the EU, and their response has been a statement saying it “disapproves” of the action.we really won’t miss them at all, will we?

to parts of the North, Midlands,west Country and Wales, Johnson was far from being the first Premier confronted with rising tides, and the rising unrest and fury of those affected. Images of Gordon Brown and David Cameron in far too shiny Wellington boots spring to mind.

Rather it is the coronavirus that has the power to derail the Johnson government and wreck his ambitions. Never mind the spectacular end to austerity signalled by the budget, if we are forced into the type of lockdown Italy has opted for and the economy collapses, it will be the Government – rightly or wrongly – that will be held accountable.

It should have been oh so different.

■ Buoyed by the thumping majority at the general election, in typical style, Boris desired to go for broke. The budget unleashed £600billion to spend on infrastructure and promises jobs aplenty. There’s £27million for roads and £5billion for highspeed broadband – and that doesn’t even include the HS2 high-speed rail link. By 2022, public spending will top £1trillion for the first time in history.

With Brexit back on track, the ability to borrow record levels of cash at almost record low rates and a party to all extents as loyal as a spaniel, what could possibly go wrong for a bouncy, beaming Boris?

Simple. A pandemic that has gripped the planet and caused thousands of deaths, and while nothing is as grave as the lives that have been lost and the relatives and friends who are left mourning, the economic damage is set to be catastrophic.

Stock exchanges have been in free fall and business confidence is shredded. It seems small yet the decision by the Bank of England to cut the interest rate from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent is hugely significant as they’ve fired their last bullet and have nowhere left to go.

All this, and the peak of the crisis could be 10 to 14 weeks away!

Chancellor Rishi Sunak attempted to tackle the virus with a promise of unlimited cash for the NHS, sick pay on demand simply by dialling 111 and help for smaller businesses. But it will be the interest rate cut that he and the government will be hoping will get the money flowing.

However, while they can talk up the economy and play down the crisis, they cannot manufacture customers or business. At a sombre press conference, the Prime Minister said relatives will lose loved ones and the implementation of measures that will severely disrupt the country is now merely a matter of timing.

The Prime Minister must do everything he can to halt this virus.

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HAVING conducted an “evidence stocktake”(?) an action plan has been devised to combat the fatal problems with the ridiculously named smart motorways system.

These death traps, where the hard shoulder is turned into an additional lane of moving traffic, have killed an average of 11 people every year between 2015 and 2018 and also caused countless near-misses.

New measures mean they won’t be used when traffic is very heavy and more refuges will be built.

This is not enough.

These lanes don’t need reviewing, they need ripping up and returning to what they were built for – crucial safety in an emergency.

IF A picture’s worth a thousand words, which would you use to describe how Prince Harry looked last week as he bowed out of official duties? Gone was the “Army Harry”, whose outgoing nature and sense of humour warmed the hearts of all of us, replaced by someone who looked deep in thought and positively wistful. That old saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” springs to mind. But knowing his beloved grandmother, the Queen, did everything within her considerable power to try to keep him from leaving has to be troubling for someone who, courtesy of his military career, knows the true value of duty.