Rubble brewing for Boris

WHEN she was re-elected for a third time with a majority of more than 100 seats in 1987, Thatcher looked unassailable. Comparisons were drawn as soon as Boris Johnson won his 80-seat majority last December. But will parallels soon be made with how swiftly the wheels began to come off that final period of office for Thatcher?

During the grim interlude when Johnson lay in intensive care, the perception grew that his return would re-instil a sense of purpose in a government that drifted in his absence. That hasn’t happened. No one reasonable doubts the sincerity of his motives, or envies him the scale of his task. But he remains insistent on a lockdown policy based on deeply questionable modelling that has since been superseded by further research.

Such as that the fatality rate is 0.75 per cent of all patients, and that before this week 11 people under the age of 20 have died of it in the UK, and two under the age of 15. Deaths peaked by April 8 – far ahead of the supposed effect of lockdown measures.

That doesn’t lessen the grief of loved ones left behind – any more than unexpected deaths did before coronavirus came along. But nor is it a justification for restrictions ultimately threatening far more lives by reducing to rubble the economy that pays for our healthcare, and a quality of life that will come to be bitterly missed.

THE BBC coverage of the lockdown-muted VE Day 75th anniversary celebrations proved strangely poignant, such as the Strictly dancers performing Puttin’ On The Ritz in Buckingham Palace’s sepulchral courtyard, alone except for a socially distanced orchestra.

My personal favourite was the terrific former Wren from

Scotland called Edna, who was awarded the wartime service medal she never received at the time in a touching ceremony outside her home, attended by military pipers.

Edna, who must have been in her 90s, reminded me of my late grandmother: mischievous-eyed, as sharp as a tack and as teaktough as she was unassuming. She was an absolute joy.