Baby Boris! A bit of cheer-up news for once

Everyone loves a baby story and now Boris and fiancee Carrie have produced a boy. Boris really is an extraordinary individual. A lot of people - anti-Boris people - couldn't believe it when he was elected prime minister by the Conservative party, then won a huge mandate with an election and yet still looked and sounded like the same old Boris. Well of course that was his charm. For a start he is called Boris by pretty well everyone. No doubt if his name had been Micbael or Robert or Stephen or Alistair it wouldn't have been the same. Boris has a ring to it and when it's the name of someone who is somewhat overweight but rides a bike, has flowaway blond hair and gives the impression of being a good bloke who wants to do his best, then this prime minister has a lot going for him. Now he has a baby to take to 10 Downing Street. I doubt Boris and Carrie will do a Harry and Meghan and refuse to pose for pictures. Boris will want to demonstrate that he is the people's prime minister and will also want Carrie to be accepted by everyone as his first lady, as it were. Anyway, it's nice news, and congratulations. Boris had a period of facing up to his mortality and now he deserves a lot of luck and a dose of wisdom to get Britain out of this appalling pandemic. Quuestions are already being asked, and for good reason: Why is the UK so high up on the worst-hit list. We're on our way to a 25,000 death toll and possibly 30,000 which would be higher than any other country except for the US. It looks like we will be surpassing Italy, France and Spain. Why is this? The first conclusion has to be that the UK started too slow to impose lockdown restrictions, and that responsibility lies with Boris's government and all those medical and scientific advisers. Boris and Matt Hancock, health secretary, and Dominic Raab, stand-in prime minister while Boris was in hospital, have emphasised from Day One that they always acted in line with the advice from their experts. So why weren't these experts advising instant lockdown like so many other countries did, and are now reaping the rewards. All the other reasons have been aired daily in every newspaper: lack of testing, lack of sufficient personal protective equipment etc. To overcome all these failings, Boris is going to have to lift our spirits with some bold decisions. Producing a baby will cheer up the nation for a few days but if the virus death toll keeps on climbing remorselessly towards 30,000 AND the economy tanks, the baby pics will soon vanish and the happy-go-lucky Boris will have to answer for the consequences.