A rude awakening

​Our illustrious Prime Minister appears to be melting before our eyes. His haggard, drained appearance should underline the severity of the crisis—and presents such a contrast with his hero Churchill. In our ‘darkest hour’ didn’t Churchill hit the right rhetorical note (one of the few things Churchill got right)? But Johnson seems incapable of saying anything uplifting, inspiring or at least confidence inducing. Indeed his demeanour inspires the opposite, and his indecision illustrates what a charlatan he is. He might as well say ‘go off and die’ - the thing is, he has in so many words.
 
I got a personal email this morning from Mike Coupe (shouldn’t that be Coupé), the chief executive of Sainsbury’s, to remind me in the gentlest possible terms not to panic buy. He tells me that there’s plenty of everything for everybody so long as we shop ‘considerately.’ My advice to him would be to employ more security guards. Should it dawn on people what the government means by the population developing ‘herd immunity’ to coronavirus they may decide that herd behaviour is what’s best, and like a million Wildebeest all charge hither and thither to escape the marauding predator—a predator made all the more frightening by its invisibility.