Joe Biden should address the sexual assault claim against him

The sexual assault claim against Joe Biden has been bubbling on for weeks but the former vice president and now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee seems to have carefully avoided making any direct comment about it, other than to get his associates and friends to dimiss the allegation as unfounded. The trouble with this sort of allegation, especially in the so-called Me Too era, is that once made it is not going to go away. It will rumble along as a potential negative for Biden all the way to the November election unless he gets it sorted out right now. He needs to make a full statement or at least agree to an interview that can include questions on the accusation. There is no other way of dealing with this. He can't keep on ignoring it, whether it's true, false, overhyped or malicious. Did he or did he not assault this woman Tara Reade, a former Senate aide to Biden, in 1993. That's 27 years ago. A neighbour of hers at the time has also now come forward to say Ms Reade told her about the assault after it allegedly happened. So, two voices crying out assault. I have no personal information to make any judgement either way. All I will says is that when Christine Blasey Ford accused nominated Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a party when they were at high school in 1982, my sympathies were with her and what's more I believed she was telling the truth, or at least telling the truth as she remembered it. The details were highly unpleasant. Kavanaugh gave an emotionally angry denial during his nomination process, in contrast to Ms Blasey Ford's quiet and dignified statement, and the whole episode was the starkest "he said she said" debate you could possibly imagine. Judge Kavanaugh won and Christine Blasey Ford lost. The truth? Well it sort of got lost in the bitterness. Now we have Biden versus Reade, except that it hasn't got to the bitterness stage yet and one party is publicly ignoring the other party. Sexual assault covers a multitude of wrongdoings from a violent act to being too touchy-feely or groping. She claims Biden pressed her up against a wall, kissed her neck and then touched her beneath her skirt in a highly intrusive way. There is no question that if that allegation is true down to the last detail most lawyers would say there was a prima facie case against Biden. But Biden, through his associates, says it didn't happen. So, they imply, both Ms Reade and her former neighbour are misremembering what happened or just plain making it up. Whatever the facts and whatever the truth, Biden has to face up to it. It won't go away. It's nearly May, the election is just six months away. If this drags on much longer it's going to become a bigger story and then it will look like Biden has been forced into a corner and will have no alternative but to give his story in full and with the television cameras watching his every facial expression. I'm afraid that's politics, especially presidential politics. Trump of course has in the past been accused of all kinds of inappropriate behaviour towards women and making salacious locker-room mysogenistic remarks. So I don't suppose he will be coming out to demand Biden confronts the sexual assault allegation. But the Democratic party and all the voters who plan to vote for Biden deserve a plain-speaking statement from their presumptive presidential nominee to clear the air. If he can.

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.

Please eat more potatoes, pleads Belgium

It's one of the more unusual appeals to have been made during this coronavirus pandemic. With restaurants, hotels and cafes closed throughout Belgium, the potato industry in that country is in a desperate way. Not enough people are eating French fries and vast amounts of potatoes are going to go to waste. One of the things that surely health officials and experts are going to have to worry about in the future is the emergence of overweight, unexercised human beings venturing out from their homes after months in lockdown. So the Belgian plea to eat more potatoes won't go down well. But it's a thought. If restaurants are going to stay closed for another month or two what WILL happen to all the food that normally would be sitting in restaurant fridges ready to be cooked for customers. There are going to be food mountains of every kind in every country. Unsold food mountains mean bankruptcy for the growers. The potential for gloom and doom in the food and eating world is another reason why at some stage, in the not too distant future, we are going to have to see restaurants reopening even if filling just half an establishment at any one time. A lot of restaurants struggle to get maximum bums on seats anyway, so it wouldn't be too much of an imposition for the government to stipulate that every other table should be kept vacant. Personally I can't wait to go back to my favourite restaurants and I promise, Belgian potato farmers, that when I do I will order some French fries. No hardship there on my part.

I fear Boris is right to be ultra-cautious over lockdown-lifting

Boris has spoken. At last after three long weeks of treatment and recovery, the British prime minister is back up and running and starts the week off with a statement to the nation from outside Number 10. Very presidential. Not surprisingly he is against lifting any social distancing and lockdown restrictions, at least for the moment which probably means three or four more weeks. Terrible news for businesses struggling to survive but I fear Boris is right. The country has made good progress in helping to bring down the pandemic statistis and the NHS, while struggling against all the odds with limited supplies of personal protective equipment and testing etc has survived and is surviving better now that the incoming patients with Covid-19 are reducing in number. But, yes, it's too early to tell the nation to start going back to normal. But sometime within the next month, Boris, please give us an idea what steps could be taken to lift restrictions and in what order even if you don't have a timetable in mind. Everyone needs something to look forward to. Just being told we have at least another month of total shutdown provides no sense of optimism. Judging by photographs in the papers today a lot of people are making up their own minds about when to lift restrictions. There are, unbelievably, pictures of packed Underground trains as people go back to work. Go back to what sort of work? I thought everyone was supposed to be working from home where possible. So those pictures were alarming, especially as they appeared only a couple of hours before Boris stood outside No 10 Downing to warn the country that it would be madness to undo all the progress that had been made. It's clear that this country, probably like all countries, is in a state of confusion, frustration and what I might call soditness. In other words, sod this virus, let's get back to normal. But that would be irresponsible and a kick in the face for the NHS doctors and nurses who have sacrificed so much to get us where we are today and to the families of those who have died - more than 20,000 now - who understand more than anyone how important it is to keep the lid on for another few weeks. Somehow we all have to prepare for another month of lockdown and in that time we can watch and learn from other countries who are beginning to lift restrictions. If Italy, Spain and others successfully but gradually open up for business once again and there is no return of the virus, then Boris and his cabinet will feel more comfortable about starting to do the same in the UK. That, to me, sounds like a sensible way forward. So, please, no more pictures of overcrowded Tube trains. That has to be stopped surely.

Is Kim Jong-un sick, very sick or just off colour?

Kim Jong-un can't have coronavirus because according to North Korea Covid-19 has not entered the country. The North Korean leader hasn't been seen since April 11 and for a man who never misses a trick about appearing in public especially for big events, it certainly seems odd that he has vanished from view. He missed his late gradfather's birthday celebrations and that's something he would never do unless he was seriously incapacitated. North Korea is like the Soviet Union in the bad old days. They say Leonid Brezhnev had been dead for weeks before Moscow finally announced his passing. Konstantin Chernenko looked pretty dead from the moment he took over as Soviet supremo and may well have departed well before his official death was declared. Suspending death announcements allowed for furious backroom Kremlin battles to get sorted. Now it may be that Chairman Kim has had a heart attack from all that fancy eating or a serious stomach disorder and just doesn't feel that good and doesn't want to be seen in public looking peaky. The trouble with being a total dictator type in a nation like North Korea is that when you are not around suddenly the whole world, well those who are really interested, like the US, South Korea, Japan and China, start worrying. If he has died, let's say, who the hell is going to take over and will he or she be any different or worse than Kim? Now Senator Lindsey Graham, the sort of chap who knows a lot about what is going on in the world and has chats with all sorts of people who know a lot too has appeared on Foxd News and calmly stated that he'd be shocked if Chairman Kim wasn't either dead or incapacitated. Now for a man of influence like Senator Graham who is generally pretty pally with Trump who gets his daily intelligence brief, is he trying to tell us what the CIA and others in the spooky world have been telling Trump or is he just speculating? You never know with Senator Graham. He's wily sort of bloke. It did seem rather an extraordinary remark, hinting that he knows more than he is saying. But, seriously, if there was intelligence that the North Korean leader had actually died, surely the South Korean intelligence service would be leaping around and warning the Seoul government to be on the alert for a massive crisis across the border. There is no indication of that. What's more, a team of Chinese - of course - doctors has flown to Pyongyang to minister unto poor young Chairman Kim. I doubt, with the greatest of respect, that the CIA has an inside agent at the top of the North Korean regime who even now is standing at the end of Kim's bed, reading his medical notes. So whatever Graham says, it really is all speculation. Will Presidet Xi Zinping ring up Trump and bring him up to date? I doubt it especially with all the row over blaming Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic. So we all have to wait and see. I wouldnt be surprised if Chairman Kim turns up all sprightly and smug at some ballistic-missile test firing and gives the world a North Korean V sign.

Are our leaders suffering from coronavirusitis?

The likely reinstatement of Captain Brett Crozier as commanding officer of the US Navy aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, and his return to take the ship back out to sea after weeks of being quarantined with an epidemic of coronavirus is the clearest evidence that since this pandemic started some people in high positions have been affected by what I can only call coronavirusitis. It's a kind of madness. Crozier was technically at fault for crying for help by writing a letter to so many admirals and captains urging greater assistance and permission to remove all his 4,800 crew from the ship. But that wasn't madness. That was a warship skipper desperate to do what he thought was best for his crew. What was madness was what followed. Thomas Modly, acting Navy Secretary, took personal affront at being told that he, the civilian navy boss in charge of all personnel, had failed in his duty, especially when the letter was leaked to the ship's home port newspaper. S he fired Crozier. Then to make matters infinitely worse he flew out to Guam where the carrier was docked and berated Crozier in front of the crew over the tannoy system, telling the sailors their much-liked captain was either too stupid or too naive not to have realised the trouble he had caused by writing his SoS letter. That was total craziness. It was coronavirusitis gone mad. He, too, had to resign when he returned from his trip. Mark Esper, the US Defence Secretary, now has to decide whether to approve the US Navy chiefs' apparent recommendation that Crozier be reinstated. Esper knows that Trump is on Crozier's side. He said no man should ruin his career from one slip-up. Esper should never have allowed Modly to fire Crozier. He should have stepped in and overrruled Modly. But he didn't, he supported Modly and now he has the tricky task of reversing everything. The whole saga is a case of people overreacting and behaving madly. Now we have Trump suggesting, sarcastically or not, that it might be a good idea to inject the body with disinfectant to kill the virus. You only have to read the label on household disinfectant bottles to know that you don't under any circumstances put the stuff anywhere near your lips, let alone down into your stomach. That's another craziness brought on by Covid-19 that is making even presidents say the most ridiculous things. I fear as the pandemic progresses there are going to be a lot more incidents of coronavirusitis.

We all need a lifting-of-lockdown timetable

If Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, thinks it's ok to start talking about how lockdown might be lifted, why on earth is the government south of the border so adamantly opposed to doing any such thing. The UK government has come up with its five-point plan - why are all government plans five-pointed? - which basically stipulate what criteria have to be met before any restrictions can be lifted. But that doesn't give us any idea or any hope of when things might get better. Sturgeon has grasped the nettle, saying that we are all grown-ups and need to be told what is planned so we can start charting the rest of our lives. I think that is sensible. But Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, who has got the toughest job right now, has cast aside the Sturgeon approach. It's wrong, he says, because it's too early to raise people's hopes. But that is exactly the point, Mr Hancock. We need our hopes and expectations raised. Not in three months time but now, today. He is scared at the thought that if he and his cabinet colleagues - and Boris once he is back in Downing Street - talk too early about coming out of lockdown in, say, mid-to-late June or by July, and a second wave of Covid-19 snatches thousands of more lives, they will be blamed. Well of course that's a risk. But we cannot rely totally on the advice of the government medical and scientific advisers because on the whole they are all so cautious they would prefer us to stay locked in our houses for another year or two. That can't happen. Apart from the irreparable damage to the economy and our living standards, a really long lockdown willl destroy everyone's spirits, harm marriages and make grandparents weep for their grandchildren. So Nicola Sturgeon is right. Give us some hope, Matt Hancock, and stop listening so devotedly to those doing all the worst-case scenario computer modelling. Boris is cautious too which is understandable because he had a horrid personal experience and is still recovering. But Boris is basically a bold sort of politician and now we need his boldness more than ever. Give us a Sturgeon-like timetable.

What's going on in the world under cover of the coronavirus pandemic?

I'm afraid it's a given that while the whole world is obsessed with the coronavirus pandemic, some parts of the globe will be seeking to exploit this period of time to the maximum. What could be happening that we don't know about? And are the intelligence services able to keep watch on our behalf or are they also stricken with infections and struggling to cope? That's the first thing we don't know because no one is saying, for perhaps understandable reasons. Is, for example the US National Security Agency functionng at maximum potential or are there key gaps in their signals intelligence-gathering because of the absence of crucial employees? Is the CIA overstretched, are Britain's MI5, MI6 and GCHQ coping? The one good thing is that there is no reason to imagine that international terrorists and domestic terrorists are unaffected by the virus spread. Are they also in lockdown and social distancing or is it part of their death-wish ideology that they don't care. The fact is though that in the non-terrorist world we are all in our homes and the streets are nearly empty. So this must be a hindrance to any plots they might be making. Let us hope so, but I'm sure MI5 in the UK is doing its best to monitor the movements of known suspects. But what about state plotting? What is Iran doing with its uranium-enrichment? Is it secretly stepping up the process and is the International Atomic Energy Agency still capable of keeping tabs on what is already a blatant violation of the 2015 nuclear deal signed by Iran, the US (then withdrawn by Trump), Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China? Could that be our next crisis, Iran heading for a bomb hoping no one will notice? China is always difficult to fathom but as it progressively gets back to normal with no more reported deaths from the virus, I can envisage Beijing grabbing what it can while the US and Europe are out of action. Now is their chance to surge forward economically and probably step up their military modernisation programme so that when coronavirus has been dealt with everywhere China will look stronger, more dominating and potentially more threatening in the Asia-Pacific region. Watch out for that, NSA and CIA. Russia has the virus problem and a whole lot of other challenges including a massive drop in oil prices which must be doing long-term damage to its economy. But with Vladimir Putin at the helm, no one should underestimate how he might see opportunities to exploit the huge change in the world. North Korea likewise, although the mysterious disappearance of its leader Kim Jong-un might affect Pyongyang's potential for causing trouble. Meanwhile people are dying from conflict in Syria, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Myanmar (Burma) without receiving much if any media attention. Now more than ever we will be relying on our intelligence services to keep a daily watch.

Dead people have received stimulus cheques

So many things have gone wrong with the way the world has confronted the coronavirus pandemic. Before it arrived we all thought we lived in a globalised world where every country was linked together and big big decisions could be made to benefit or not benefit the planet. But not any longer. There has been little sign of worldwide coordination and collaberation. Rather, it has been a free-for-all. The UK government, for example, can't get hold of enough personal protection equipment (PPE) for our National Health Service frontline doctors and nurses, so it contracts some company in Turkey to deliver a mountain of gowns etc. But does it get delivered all nice and quick? No it doesn't. It takes days until eventually an RAF transport plane has to fly to Turkey to pick it all up. Then it has to be checked on return to make sure they are the right gowns etc, and meanwhile doctors and nurses are wrapping themselves in plastic bin bags to try and protect themselves from the deadly virus. Then there's China's contribution. They kindly agreed to send three million virus test kits to the UK for a few million quid but none of the kit works properly. Governments are trying to buy PPE and virus testing kits from all around the world. Yet here in UK and probably in other countries, literally a thousand or so British companies have offered to design and produce this kit on a huge scale but got no answer from the government. NO REPLY! What the hell is going on? Then there's the unbelievable story about the so-called EU PPE programme. The UK may have left the EU but was still invited to join the prgramme. But the offer sent by email went to an email address that doesn't exist any longer. Well that was the UK government's explanation and it dismissed the statement made by Sir Simon McDonald, the top diplomat at the Foreign Office who told a Commons select committee that the decision not to join the EU programme was "political". He was forced to correct himself by an outraged Foreign Secretary and deputising prime minister Dominic Raab who insisted it was all an email error. Oh my God that is straight out of Yes Minister, the classic comdey series on television which if you haven't ever seen you should start now. Now we hear another classic in the United States. Trump promised to send $1,200 dollars to everyone to cheer them up in this terrible time. The job was handed to the Inland Revenue Service, which in double-quick time drew up all the bank account details it had online and started transferring said sum to people's bank accounts. But of course the IRS didn't take into account the fact that thousands of people had died from coronavirus. Nearly 47,000 so far. Subsequently thousands of payments have been sent to people who have died. Mind you, the same thing happened when President Obama sent $250 to all senior citizens and veterans to cushion against the 2008 financial crisis - 71,000 payments went to dead people. None of this is laughable. All of it shows that we cannot cope with a disaster of this proportion. We and our governments are flailing around like flappy geese taking off from a lake. There are some exceptions, such as New Zealand which seems to have done everything right. But most countries, and certainly the UK and US, have had virus decision-making nightmares.

Are there more important things than living?

We have the second most powerful politician in Texas to thank for coming up with this point of view: there are more important things in life than living. Well it sounds like an oxymoron to me. The gentleman who suggested this is Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick, a Republican. He's the deputy governor. What he seems to mean is that lives can be sacrificed for the sake of the economy and the nation. In other words, let's get Texas back to work and if it means a few hundred or thousand people die in the process, it's worth it because everyone else will benefit. It's harsh but maybe true. However, I doubt there will be many political leaders ready to go along with that. Can you imagine Boris Johnson, especially after his personal coronavirus experience, telling the British people that he plans to get Britain back to normal as soon as possible even if it means many people will continue to die. No, most leaders will take a more cautious line and say that getting back to normal cannot be contemplated until the virus has effectively been beaten or until either a wonder treatment has been found or a 100 per cent-proof vaccine has been tried and tested. But let's look at Dan Patrick's statement. First of all, are there more important things than living? I guess it depends who you ask and how you ask it. The trouble is the virus is indiscriminate. Although more men than women have gone down with it, and although a very large percentage of the fatalities involved elderly people or those with underlying diseases, the virus has also taken the lives of young, fit men and women, and babies for heaven's sake. So is living less important for the younger generation than a rising economy or low unemployment or airlines back in full flying mode? No of course not. Actually being alive is far more important than having a flourishing national economy. Being alive is the greatest gift of all. But, you could argue, will life be worth living if the whole world is reduced to struggling in poverty and misery and fear of disease? Well, that's another question which I don't think the Texas No 2 governor had in mind when he said what he said. But in general terms he may have a point provided you can assume he meant to say that at some stage, and the sooner the better, government leaders must decide when it is right to get countries back to full working order. Dan Patrick doesn't want to wait until the very last death from coronavirus has been recorded and the slate is clean, as it were. Even with people still dying, economies must be rebuilt for the sake of those who survive this pandemic. That is an argument that we will hear a lot of in the next few weeks but not with the sort of language selected by the deputy governor of Texas.

How tough should the police be in enforcing lockdown exercising?

There have been numerous reports of the police seemingly being heavy-handed in enforcing the rules about what people can or cannot do when they are engaged in their daily government-approved exercise. First of all, I think the police have been put in a difficult position. Especially when it's hot and sunny the Lockdown Population desperately want to emerge from their confinement and snatch a little of the life they once enjoyed freely and without Big Brother watching. The police are empowered to make sure that when they do they don't do in vast numbers, they don't mingle and ignore the 2-metre social distancing edict and, it seems, above all, they keep moving wherever they are going, and don't stop for long chats, or sunbathe or picnic or just lie around. It's the keep-moving bit that worries me. After nearly four weeks of this no-life hibernation, is it so wrong and against the law to sit on a park bench with your book and bottle of water for half an hour and gaze at the sun occasionally? If everyone did it on the same park bench, I guess that's a problem. But if the bench is in the middle of a park and no one else is either walking by or demanding to sit next to you to unfurl their sandwiches, wouldn't it be a case of over-enthusiasm if the police ordered you to move on? Yes in my view, but it's going on all the time. Let me record what I witnessed this morning in Richmond Park. For those who haven't enjoyed this wondrous park, it's huge and full of deer grazing, offering plenty of room for lots of people to walk without going anywhere near anyone else. This morning a young Mum was battling with a kite in the strong wind, with her little daughter excitedly watching her. It was a gentle, warming sight. But then to my astonishment a police patrol car which was being driven along the empty road in the park suddenly veered off the road and came heading for the Mum and child, bumping over the grass and pulling up within two metres or so from the kite-flying lovelies. I wasn't close enough to hear what the police officer in the passenger seat said through his open window but I have absolutely no doubt that the one-way conversation would have gone something ike this: "Madam, you are flying a kite. Flying a kite is not allowed under section 78 of the 2020 Coronavirus Act. It is not exercise. It's what we call enjoying yourself and being nice to your kid. That is also not allowed. You will have to pack up your kite and go home. Now." The patrol car moved off and headed for a couple sitting on two fold-up chairs and watching a gathering of deer under a tree. The Mum duly packed up her kite, grabbed her daughter's hand and walked off towards the nearest park gate. By now the said police patrol car, doing its off-road manoeuvres, had stopped in front of the couple in their garden-type chairs. I was far too far away to overhear the dialogue. But, again, it's not too difficult to guess: "Sir, Madam, you are sitting down in chairs. My colleague and I have noticed that you have not moved in the last five minutes. You are therefore in breach of the guidelines set by the government in accordance with Section 49 of the 2020 Coronavirus Act. The guidelines say exercise means exercise which means you have to exercise for an hour and no more. You are not exercising, you are sitting down and watching deer. That is not exercise. You must move immediately." The police patrol car reversed and headed up a path normally preserved for walkers, deer and ducks. The couple hastily folded up their chairs and left. What they were saying under their breath will never be known. I have a confession to make. During these two incidents I stood still, without moving either leg or even arm for at least five minutes, so astonished was I at the state we are now all in where the simplest pleasures in life such as flying a kite with your child or sitting with your spouse for a few minutes to watch a bit of animal nature are BANNED. As for my outrageous breach, stopping momentarily in my tracks which I'm sure is also a serious violation of some section or other of the said Act, please don't tell anyone in uniform.

The Teddy Roosevelt in unreal ghost ship world

MY TIMES STORY THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT ON SATURDAY: The “floating city” aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, normal population 4,800, is like a ghost ship with fewer than 800 on board, each of whom is masked and under orders to stay 6ft apart. The transformation of the 1,092ft nuclear-powered 97,000-ton carrier from being one of the US Navy’s most potent forward-deployed warfighting platforms, nicknamed “The Big Stick” by the crew, to becoming a ship on life support has had repercussions across the whole of the American military. The ship’s commanding officer with 30 years of military experience was fired, the acting US Navy secretary resigned, another carrier, USS Harry S Truman, which was due home was told to stay at sea and everyone in the Pentagon wants to know when the Teddy Roosevelt can return to vital operations in the South China Sea. Even the most senior US military commander, General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has admitted that the coronavirus pandemic has “sidelined” this particular carrier. It could be several more weeks before the carrier can leave port, Mark Esper, US defence secretary, has said. With more than 4,000 of the crew quarantined ashore in the US strategic base of Guam in the western Pacific, many of the 800 left on board are engaged in the most comprehensive cleaning operation ever carried out on a US warship. Every single space on the carrier, and there are 2,500 of them, has had to be disinfected. There are 500 to go, according to Lieutenant James Adams, a spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. “We think of this as similar to painting our way out of a room. The ship will be cleaned space by space and access to each space will be closed off,” he said. The final spaces cleaned will be the “ship entry points”. Other crew members are ensuring the safety of the nuclear power plants and the weapon systems.Feeding the 800 is rudimentary. With the galleys (kitchens) closed for virus-cleaning, Lieutenant Adams said they were getting meals-ready-to-eat (MRE) rations that come wrapped in plastic, plus pre-made sandwiches delivered to the ship daily. MREs are normally basic rations for the US Army and Marines in the field. Ever since Covid-19 invaded the carrier on March 22, the infection rate has increased daily. It’s currently 669 cases, one sailor has died and seven are in hospital, one in intensive care suffering from shortness of breath. After the firing of commanding officer Captain Brett Crozier over his leaked appeal for more help, his predecessor Captain Carlos Sardiello was brought back to take charge. Captain Sardiello who as an aviator performed more than 500 carrier-arrested landings, is on board masterminding attempts to return the Theodore Roosevelt to a fully-crewed warship. The first round of sailors who left the ship after testing positive are now completing their recovery. “It’s a journey but supporting each other is how we get through this,” Captain Sardiello wrote on the carrier’s website. “There is a saying, no ship sails on yesterday’s wind. We move forward by what we do here and now,” he wrote. *Do the crews of US ballistic-missile Ohio class submarines know about the coronavirus pandemic back at home while they enforce America’s round-the-clock nuclear deterrent? There is a legend that submariners are never given bad news to ensure they stay committed to their mission, undistracted by worries about their families. A retired French navy chief Admiral Dominique Salles who commanded France’s ballistic-missile submarine squadron from 2003 to 2006, has been quoted as saying that the crews of his country’s deterrent boats would be unaware of the global spread of the virus. Ballistic-missile submarines normally operate for up to 80 days without resurfacing. However, the US Navy does not believe in keeping their submariners in the dark. “Submarines presently at sea have received information and reports regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Nobody is unaware of the situation on land,” Commander Jodie Cornell, spokeswoman for US Submarine Forces, said.

Looks like the government desperately needs Boris back in charge

When Boris Johnson was being treated for coronavirus in St Thomas's Hospital and was unable to make any contribution towards country-running, Michael Gove, Cabinet Office Minister and one-time Boris back-stabber, informed the country on radio and television that the government would continue perfectly well without him. A somewhat ambivalent remark. What he meant I'm sure was that even though the prime minister was incapacitated, it didn't mean that everything political would collapse but that there were procedures in place for life to carry on thank you very much and he and the other cabinet members plus the Cabinet Secretary, that all-seeing, all-knowing chap, Sir Mark Sedwill (I always nearly write Sidwell, it sounds better)) would get on with the job of governing while the PM was recovering. While out of action Boris appointed Dominic Raab, the rather colourless Foreign Secretary, to deputise for him. But after more than two weeks of Raab and co, it is quite clear that the government cannot just carry on as normal without him. Raab is no Boris. Gove is no Boris and Sedwill/Sidwell is a civil servant and isn't supposed to command anything, just advise. Whether one is a supporter of Boris or not, there is no question that he is the sort of prime minister who actually is and likes to be in charge, and with his bucketful of character and personality and easygoing manner the government might stop looking like a steady rather low-down, never-going-to-win sailing boat whose sails flap from one side to the other in the changing tides. Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, is well-meaning and tries hard but you wouldn't go into battle with him in the lead would you? Nor Gove. He's very brainy but I can't see him spouting the Henry V Agincourt speech - "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" etc. We'd wrinkle up our noses and reply, "No way, bugger that" and stay put. And if dear Matt Hancock did the Agincourt routine, we'd turn tail and go back to barracks. But if Boris, with his flaxen hair wafting in the breeze and his arms raised and fists clenched, were to turn round on his horse and urge us to follow him to beat this damned enemy virus, my God I think we just might. Not Churchillian, no. But Borisillian, yes. So I'm afraid that until General Boris gets his strength back while he wanders lonely as a cloud with his very nice fiancee Carrie in the grounds of Chequers, the prime ministerial country house, the government will soldier on somewhat leaderless and lacking in hutzpah under the deputising command of Lieutenant-Colonel Raab. The sooner Generalissimo Boris gets back into the saddle the better for all of us. We don't need some faraway light at the end of the tunnel, we need a bloody Boris spark to lighten us all up and get this country back to punching above its weight once again!

A coronavirus miracle drug is what we need NOW!

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic arrived on this planet – thank you China – research laboratories, private companies, governments, universities, the military have been trying to find A a vaccine and B a drug to treat/cure the worst-affected patients. With a vaccine maybe a year away the priority focus has to be on developing or finding an existing drug which can safely be given to virus victims. There have already been many claims of miracle drugs, not least by Donald Trump who for some unexplained reason latched onto the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as the answer to all doctors’ problems. He wanted all US hospitals to go out and buy this drug and start feeding it to patients everywhere. There was a lot of opposition from the medical world which insisted the drug was too risky to be used to treat coronavirus and more research was required. Some countries, notably Spain, decided that hydroxychloroquine WAS the answer and it became the medical protocol for all hospitals. But this drug is very strong and often patients suffering from respiratory problems found it overwhelmingly powerful, making them vomit uncontrollably. No this is not the miracle treatment Mr Trump. Many other drugs have been proposed but still no treatment solution. Now it has emerged that a drug developed by a University of Chicago medical team has shown promising results. The drug is called Remdesivir. It was given daily to 125 patients all of whom had serious coronavirus symptoms with high fever and respiratory problems, and the vast majority were cured and discharged from hospital after a week. Two of the patients died. In the medical world, the use of a drug on 125 patients will never be enough to launch into worldwide use. But any sign of hope has to be grabbed. Any drug that can be found to have genuine promise for treating patients has to be worth trying. It was enough to send the stock market up in the US. It’s early days but who knows?

Will Boris or his understudy have the courage (balls) to lift social distancing limits?

It seems the lockdown here in UK is to continue for another three weeks. So, well into May. It's a dire thought. If you're in a comfy roomy house with a garden, then there is no reason to complain too much but living on the 45th floor of a block of flats with no park outside in sight, oh my God another three weeks in that sort of situation must be ghastly to contemplate. The point is the issue about when to scrap lockdown is going to be the toughest decision to make other than the decision to go to war. This country, and every country hit badly by coronavirus, is heading for a deep recession or depression. I'm not sure of the difference. So let's call it a depressing recession. Millions unemployed, businesses going bankrupt, mortgages unpaid and homes being lost, tax receipts rocketing downwards, the government borrowing and borrowing until we owe a helluva lot more in interest than we can cope with. So, to avoid that scenario, this government, every government, has to gamble, yes gamble with people's lives and pick a date when most people can go back to work and the milions claiming unemployment benefit can hunt for jobs or get their old ones back. No country in this current state of flux, facing economic ruin, can afford to stay shut for another two or three months. The UK government scientific adviser Professor Neil Ferguson, who has been responsible for the most alarming predictions about the virus pandemic, has said today that some social distancing restrictions should stay in place until a vaccine is found. That would mean until the end of this year or more likely in the first quarter of 2021. I'm sorry but this is Ferguson at his most gloomy. Step up, man, tell us something more optimistic. The virus has had terrible consequences and those who get its worse version suffer appallingly, much worse than flu, and too often die. Nevertheless, and this might seem harsh, no country can stay on lockdown or even semi-lockdown until a vaccine is found. By then we will all be on our knees. So in the UK it will come down to Boris when he is better, or his understudy Dominic Raab, to take a deep breath and pronounce that after the next three weeks of lockdown are over, the country will be able to look forward to a gradual return to normality and by, say, mid-June, lockdown will be totally lifted. That, of course, will depend on the pressure lifting on the NHS as a result of a persistent drop in the number of infection cases and a dramatic reduction in deaths. If Boris gets it right, and if Trump gets it right, and Macron and all the other leaders, then there will be deafening applause from everyone's open front windows. I don't want to think about the possibility of it all going wrong and the virus returning in full force.

Should China be blamed for Covid-19 pandemic?

Donald Trump's decision to suspend US payments to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is all about China. Basically, Trump wants Beijing to be blamed for spreading the virus around the world but is using WHO as the scapegoat because its leader, Ethiopian Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the first African to be the director-general, is perceived in the White House to have failed to take on the Chinese and to have stalled warning of an upcoming pandemic until it was already a reality around the world. Now, bizarrely, Sir John Sawers who was Chief (C) of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 2009 to 2014, has spoken out on BBC Radio effectively backing Trump's view that China should take responsibility for the Coronavirus pandemic. Sir John, formerly UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, may have left MI6 in 2014 but he retains a unique role. When he says something in public you can be sure that he has had the blessing of his successor at MI6 and is putting forward the current view of the UK intelligence services. So, Mr Trump, you may not have the backing of anyone for attacking the WHO and taking away the US contribution of around $237 million from their funding at a time when every dollar counts. But it seems that Britain's intelligence services are right behind you in pinning blame on China. We will never know what Beijing actually did or didn't do in grasping the coronavirus threat when it first emerged in Wuhan in November. There seems little doubt that in the first few weeks Beijing attempted to play down the potential health crisis. The WHO was not informed of the spreading danger in China until December. And even then, relevant steps were not taken by China until it was too late. Chinese New Year celebrations went ahead in January with hundreds of thousands of Chinese flying all over the place to be with their families and friends. So the WHO should have been tougher, much tougher on Beijing, and the Communist government in Beijing should have intervened much earlier. When Beijing did act, the steps were draconian. The city of Wuhan was shut down on January 23 and no one was allowed to emerge from their homes. Anyone who did were confronted by the security police. Trump's decision to suspend US payments to WHO will probably have to be reversed. Congress won't allow it. But the message seems loud and clear: the US and UK believe China is at fault over the pandemic and should admit it. Beijing will never do that of course.

President Trump versus the governors

That's all the United States needs, a right old battle between President Trump and all the state governors. He, Trump, says he and he alone will decide when the country should go back to business, like some sort of autocratic emperor, and the governors say, no way, they, either individually or in a group, will make that decision. Of course the best thing would be if Trump got all the governors together - two metres apart - or better still on a Zoom conference and had a thoroughly intelligent and sensible discussion about what is the best thing to do and try to reach a consensus. But judging by the noises coming out of the White House, that ain't going to happen. Trump wants to be in charge and to be seen to be in charge, and if he says the whole nation should go back to work in, say, four weeks, he will expect the governors to obey. That is not going to happen. The governors have their own powers and they have responsibilities that cannot be wrested away from them by a truculent president. But Trump is in reelection mood. Notice what he said in his hysterical press conference yesterday when he berated reporters for writing fake news. He referred to a future time ahead - five years - when he will no longer be president. No suggestion of course that he might be thrown out of office in November by "Sleepy Joe" Biden, as he likes to call him. Ok, Trump is probably right to be confident of another four years. But to sweep Biden out of the way, he needs to be seen to be masterminding the greatest comeback for the US economy in modern times and with all the governors bowing to his every wish and command. So I think Trump is going to make a big announcement within the next few weeks in which he will tell the country that thanks to federal help which he, Trump, instigated and authorised, every state and every state governor is obliged to show their gratitude by getting everyone back to work to spur the economy onwards and upwards. If his plan works and there is no resurgence of coronavirus - a second phase of rocketing deaths - Trump will seek to grab all the glory for himself and there will be very little that Joe Biden can do about it. But if it all goes wrong for Trump and the economy fails to liven up and there is total division between the governors and the White House, Biden, if he's smart, will step in as the true messiah (small 'm') with a hugely practical alternative proposal to push Trump to one side. Either way, from now on it's all about who takes charge in the White House in November. And the economy, not the virus, is now taking the lead. If the US, or the UK or France or Germany or wherever, take too long to let the virus subside, the economies could deteriorate too far and it could take years for the world to recover. Years!!

The US ready for war however bad coronavirus gets

A STORY NOT USED BY THE TIMES: The Pentagon is ready to meet any threat overseas despite four of the US Navy’s aircraft carriers suffering from coronavirus cases, top American defence officials have said. “If our adversaries think this is our moment of weakness, they are dangerously wrong,” David Norquist, US deputy defence secretary, warned. However, USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of the ten carriers which give the US such global firepower is now effectively out of action temporarily with more than 550 of the crew testing positive and in isolation, one sailor in hospital who sadly died in intensive care, and about two thirds of the 4,800 crew members ashore in Guam in barracks and hotels. US Navy officials insisted the carrier could still be sent on a crisis mission if it was urgently needed. The crew on board are safeguarding the weapon systems and nuclear reactor. The Theodore Roosevelt is the worst-hit carrier and has also been at the centre of a leadership battle with the firing of the commanding officer, Captain Brett Crozier, and the subsequent resignation of Thomas Modly, acting navy secretary. However, three other carriers, USS Nimitz, USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson have all had virus scares. One sailor on USS Nimitz tested positive and has been taken off the carrier which is currently preparing for operations in the Pacific. So far USS Ronald Reagan, in Japan, and USS Carl Vinson, at its home port, Bremerton in Washington state, have each also uncovered one crew member testing positive. Attempts are being made to trace other crew members who had contact with these sailors. General John Hyten, vice chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said plans were underway in the event of other carriers suffering the same epidemic as the Theodore Roosevelt. “From my perspective I think it’s not a good idea to think that the Teddy Roosevelt is a one-of-a-kind issue. To think that it will never happen again is not a good way to plan,” he said at a Pentagon briefing. While agreeing that the US remained prepared for any military eventuality, General Hyten warned that readiness could be affected if there was a prolonged reduction in the numbers of new recruits entering basic training. Training and exercises have already been cut back, and all four armed services have drastically reduced recruiting. “For a short period of time that’s not a big issue but if that continues long then all of a sudden our numbers come down,” General Hyten said.

Is there something special about British stiff-upper-lipsness?

I'm not saying the Brits are any better than anyone else on this planet but I think it's fair to say that there is something stoic stubborn Churchillian-like all-together been-through-the-Blitz God-bless-the-Queen about the people of Great Britain which is possibly uniquely helpful in surviving this deadly Coronavirus pandemic era. OK, we're a small but heavily populated country with a glorious past but history shows that the Brits never give up. We also, or most of us, honour and respect and love our Queen and listen when she tells us that life will get better again, and we also know from people of the oldest generation that in the gravest moments in our history, like World War 2, there was an incredible spirit in the country, a determination to make do and adapt while the bombs were dropping. The Blitz thing can be overdone. After all that was 80 years ago, but every schoolchild knows the story even if they find it hard to grasp. We have had so many wars since but none of them actually threatened our shores, while other poor countries have suffered and are suffering terrible wars. Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, eastern Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, to name some of them. The civilian populations of these countries have to fight to survive every day but do they have anyone, a leader, a monarch, a church leader who can unite them and give them hope? I don't think so. And I feel desperately sorry for them. For this particular blg I am writing solely about the coronavirus pandemic and the way countries have coped and remained optimistic. Countries like China, Germany, South Korea and New Zealand have rigorously enforced the strictest possible measures and testing programmes and have benefited by restricting the number of deaths. New Zealand is the most remarkable, with only four deaths so far. We in Britain were a bit slow in coming out of the starting blocks but we're getting there and it's beginning to work. But it's the spirit of the country I'm writing about. The British spirit which is alive and well is going to bring this country out of the mess and into a better future. The Queen's address to the nation, perfectly timed and perfectly scripted, and the Prince of Wales's televised words to the country which were also softly spoken and nicely comforting, helped millions to come together. Strangely, although not strangely, the hospitalisaton of Boris Johnson has also helped to unite the country, We all want him to get better. The tiny few who have spouted appallingly horrible messages about Boris and his health battle have been swiftly stamped on. My "other country", the United States where I lived and worked so happily for three years, doesn't really have the same set-up. I think it would be fair to say that President Trump is not a unifier like Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the country remains divided by all kinds of things. It's also huge, so much more difficult to unify I admit. But there is no single voice which makes every American citizen feel warm in the heart. I don't want to over-romanticise the situation here in the UK, but I think right now we are pretty united in our amazement at the sacrifices being made by our National Health Service, at the grit of everyone facing tragedies, and our faith in the Churchillian spirit that helps us get up every morning.

Choice of words by experts so important in coronavirus pandemic

The recently resigned acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said one thing that was sensible in the whole row about the sacking of Capain Brett Crozier as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, stricken by coronavirus. He admitted after his insulting and morale-deflating address to the crew about their former commanding officer that just as missiles can destroy a warship, so badly chosen words can also damage a ship and its crew. He acknowledged this is what he did when he spoke to the crew and he was deeply sorry. Now almost daily we see and hear officials and experts talking about the dangers posed by coronavirus and all too frequently they speak without thinking of the consequences and repercussions. Some medical or scientific expert here in the UK said yesterday that social distancing would have to run "indefinitely". Did he really mean for ever? The future is queuing outside supermarkets two metres from the next shopper for eternity! Clearly this is rubbish. But he made spectacular headlines everywhere, just in time for everyone to enjoy their Easter weekend. How could he say such a thing? When coronavirus has gone back into its shell, every family is going to embrace, every neighbour will hug, every restaurant will be stuffed with happy people. Social distancing for ever? Forget it. The same goes with all the frightening statistics about deaths. Those wretched computer models upon which governments make their decisions on the lives we are all expected to lead have turned out the worst possible figures. The US modelling said between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans would die. The deaths have been rising alarmingly, but will they really ever reach 240,000? I seriously doubt it. Then there are the real happy ones who predict the economies of the world will be ruined for ever, that the financial crash of 2008 will seem like a blip compared to what is going to happen to the markets and house prices and people's livelihoods for the next 20 years. Instead of predicting gloom and doom, why not tell us something more inspiring. That economies will have a tough few months but then business and trade will bounce back because this is what happens in this world of ours. The crash of 2008 was terrible for many people but the world survived. So please, all you so-called experts, be more optimistic and think before you say something alarmist.

Thou shalt not buy jaffa cakes during Coronavirus Easter weekend

Time perhaps for a little levity as we enter lockdown Easter. The chief constable of Northamptonshire, Nick Adderley - ie the police chief in this county in the East Midlands of England - has landed himself in all sorts of trouble by daring to suggest that under section 11, para 4, line 2 in the footnotes of the 2020 Coronavirus Act he is entitled as head honcho in his parish to send his bobbies into supermarkets to search people's trolleys to make sure they are only purchasing essential items such as broccoli and not going for non-essential items such as, say, shoe polish. A bit autocratic and Stalinist but at this time of sacrifice and deprivation and social distancing and no life, a chief constable has to do his duty to uphold the law as he sees it. So, let us envisage the scene in Aldi or Waitrose or Morrison's in the said county and picture a dutiful constable (bobbie) approaching a woman with a huge trolley-load of goodies. "Madam," says the Northamptonshire bobbie, "please stand back two metres and leave your trolley for my inspection." Woman looks alarmed and stands back. Bobbie starts ferreting through her purchases and triumphantly comes out with a packet of delicious jaffa cakes. "And what, madam, are you doing buying jaffa cakes? " "They're for my kids, they love them," says the woman. "Jaffa cakes," says the bobbie, "are not on the chief constable's list of essential food items, so you must return them." "But....." Then the bobbie seizes a tin of pitted prunes. "You don't need these," he says. "Yes I do, on account of my Henry's you know problem," cries the woman. "What problem is that?" asks the intrepid bobbie. "You know, he can't you know, he needs prunes to help him you know...."she whispers." "Madam, I don't know what you're talking about but my chief constable says pitted prunes are not on his essential food list." "But if Henry can't you know what he'll get all bunged up and when my Henry is all bunged up he's a nightmare to live with," she says, beginning to cry. "Sorry madam but rules is rules." "Shit," she replies very quietly. The bobbie continues his search and grabs a bottle of Gordon's gin from the trolley. "Madam, the chief constable says alcohol of any variety is not essential, not in his county, so that has to go." "But I need my gin every evening otherwise life is not worth living, especially if my Henry can't have his prunes to help him you know." Bobbie is adamant and all said items are removed. The rest of the trolley passes the chief constable's guidelines and the woman goes off in floods of tears. The bloke behind her in the queue with a six-pack of Corona lager and a Daily Telegraph is beginning to look very worried.

Unemployment rocketing, businesses collapsing but it WILL get better

There are two ways at looking at the coronavirus pandemic: total pessimism that the world and the world economy have changed for ever and we are all doomed to proverty and misery, and total optimism that when it's all over and the virus has been dealt with and a vaccine is produced to prevent a return, light and happiness and good fortune will give the globe such a boost that jobs, businesses and normality wuill be back in style. For the tens of thousands of people who have lost family members and friends, I cannot begin to imagine how they will adapt to the world post-coronavirus. But if things have dramatically improved and we can all go back to pubs and restaurants and theatres and cinemas and holidays and hugging and kissing, then even for those who have suffered terrible tragedies, life will slowly begin to get better. I definitely choose the latter of the two ways forward. There is no alternative but to start building up optimism and planning for a better future. There WILL be a better future, and after the pandemic it's just possible that the most farsighted governments will actually realise there is a warning here for the planet. If the future is going to be safe and healthy and exciting and rewarding and wonderful for our children and grandchildren, then the big decisions on climate change and health protection and financial stability have to be taken now. Out of this terrible time something valuable could emerge. Again, nothing at this stage can comfort those who have suffered personal tragedies. But perhaps for these families and individuals it is encumbent on the rest of us and particularly on our leaders to take bold decisions for the whole planet. It would be obscene, disgraceful and disgusting if any country thought this was the moment to exploit other country's disadvantages and seek to benefit from the sufferings. I name no names.

US intelligence services warned of likely virus pandemic in November

President Trump has made much of the conviction on his part that nothing could have prepared the US for the coronavirus crisis. Then we hear that a major pandemic scenario exercise was held to test America's ability to cope with a new virus. And now a report on ABC News claims intelligence officials warned the White House that the coronavirus epidemic in Hubei province in China was spreading fast and could lead to a "cataclysmic" event. So, lots of warnings and theoretical preparations, yet now the US is the worst-hit nation on the planet, seemingly unable to cope with the rising deaths, a lack of medical equipment and no federal consensus on how tough to be to enforce social distancing. Is this a total scandal which could or should lead to the downfall of Donald Trump? You only have to look at history to conclude that the answer is no. Planning for a crisis is one thing, actually believing that it's going to happen in order to be fully ready if it happens is something else. It's human nature not to believe that the worst will happen. This is why there is still a total unreadiness in this world for what is almost bound to be catastrophic climate changes in the next 10-20 years. Even when you see massive chunks of ice collapsing in the Antarctic, and rising sea levels in vulnerable low-lying countries, and unprecedented rising temperatures around the world, you carry on with your life just not quite believing that all the apocalyptic warnings are actually going to happen in our lifetime or the lifetime of our children. Surely, we argue, technology or something we don't yet know about it will arrive and sort it all out. No one ever believes it when a man stands on a soapbox and shouts that the end of the world is nigh. We all laugh when frightened doomsday religious sects seek refuge at the top of a mountain to prepare for God's mighty destruction of the planet on a particular day only to have to come down again looking sheepish when God has failed them. Again. According to the ABC report, the warning of an impending coronavirus disaster first appeared in the daily presidential intelligence brief in January. The intelligence services had picked up communications from within China which indicated the virus was out of control and the Chinese Communist government was failing to take the necessary steps to counter it. Whether Trump was being told the virus could spread around the world and hit the US with ferocity is not clear. But as every US president has learned over the years, intelligence is not always what it is cracked up to be. It is rarely so overwhelmingly prescient that it is obvious to any president what he needs to do. Immediately. Take 9/11 as a classic example. There were warning signs piling up that al-Qaeda was plotting a major terrorist attack against the US, and plenty of evidence that local FBI agents picked up in San Diego and south Florida which indicated potentially suspicious foreigners were learning to fly commercial aircraft. But a composite picture drawing all the intel tidbits into a warning package for the then president George W Bush never arrived on his desk. Sure, there was a ton of intelligence around, some of it circumstantial but did anyone come forward and actually say, "Mr President, an al-Qaeda 'airplane plot' is about to be put into action and the targets will be something iconic, like the Twin Towers." No, they didn't, and even if they did, would Bush have closed the skies over the US to all air traffic for weeks as a precaution? No, he wouldn't, because such a move would have been highly alarmist, and a disaster for airlines and business and trade. "Give me proof," Bush would have said. It's the same with the coronavirus pandemic. A virus crisis in China is a virus crisis in China. Why should it impinge on our way of life? So, however many warnings may or may not have been given prior to the arrival of COVID-19 in the US and Europe and everywhere else in the world, it would have been unrealistic for us all to have gone into lockdown BEFORE it spread beyond China. It's human nature. We can't believe something is going to happen until it happens.

The latest unbelievable episode in the USS Theodore Roosevelt saga

Let us imagine a scenario that couldn't possibly happen, or I should say, shouldn't ever happen: the top civilian official in the US Navy who had fired the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier for "poor judgment" over the spread of coronavirus among his crew, flies out to Guam to address the crew, presumably having in mind a boosting talk to make sure their morale stays high, and then, through the tannoy system, complains that the skipper Captain Brett Crozier was either very stupid or very naive for writing a letter which painted the dire circumstances faced by the warship. And by the way, the "stupid or naive" Captain Crozier has himself caght the virus. That couldn't happen, right? Well it did!! Just like that. I have already blogged that I found it outrageous for the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt to be sacked for trying to let everyone know the crisis he was facing. Now I have no hesitation in saying that the acting US Navy Secretary, one Thomas Modly should be fired or he should resign. It is beyond belief that having sacked Crozier for the letter which was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle and publicised worldwide, he felt the need to fly all the way to Guam where the carrier had moored in order to shower insults on Captain Crozier in front of the members of the 4,800 crew still on board. One sailor tweeted that Modlyspoke with a whingeing whiny voice. Crozier had been a popular skipper and when he walked off the ship the crew gave him three rousing cheers. Now here was the man from Washington calling their captain stupid. It seriously beggars belief. What the hell does Modly think he was doing to a crew already suffering from low morale as a result of the coronavirus on board and the sudden sacking of their boss? Modly was supported by Mark Esper, US Defence Secretary, when he decided to fire Crozier, and he waS also, though reluctantly, supported by Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations. Gilday wanted an investigation to be held before any decision to fire Crozier. But he agreed with the decision when Modly who has the ultimate power to fire people in the Navy declared he no longer had confidence in Crozier's leadership. One of the things that no doubt was pissing off Moldy was that he was not on the distribution list for Crozier's admittedly outspoken and risky letter. It was circulated to about 30 people but not to Modly. The first he knew about it was when it appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. Oh yes, that must have really put his back up. Nevertheless, that's no reason for him to jump on a plane and head for Guam to address the crew in such a disgracefully petty way. Later, presumbaly after he got a phone call from a high-up in Washington he apologised for his choice of words and said Crozier was brave and passionate and he, Modly, didn't mean to upset his family. Now who is talking about poor judgment? No wonder Trump said that he might intervene and get it sorted out. The first thing to sort out is to get rid of Modly. He is only "acting" Navy Secretary. Now he should stop acting and go!

Queuing fortunately is part of the British way of life

Life, shopping and queuing now go together. Fortunately for us Brits, queuing is a great tradition which most people honour. We are prepared to queue for hours if we get what we want at the end of it. In the US of course there is no such word as queue. It's "line". Excuse me, are you in line? In the UK, it's excuse me are you in the queue? But it comes to the same thing. Now though, thanks to coronavirus, queuing is a very different experience. Now you have to be at least two metres behind the next person in the queue and at least two metres in front of the one behind. And that's where the trouble starts. If you're outside a major supermarket at, say 10.30am, the queue is massive, not because there are hundreds of shoppers but because of the two-metre separation line. There are more gaps than people, and the occasional wandering would-be shopper without really thinking it through, just dives in to the biggest gap and plants his or her feet firmly in position, having, he/she thought, saved a potential wait of 20 minutes. This gets people riled. Oh my God it does. Queue-jumpers are always unpopular but now it has become almost a criminal offence. If someone with a large shopping bag meanders up near the front or half way down the queue (line) and asks, "Excuse me, are you in the queue? " it is terribly tempting to reply, "What do you think, stupid?" You don't of course but the first thing you do is shuffle to the left smartly because the would-be interloper is standing three feet away as he asks his daft question. When he gets the picture that he is about to jump the queue, he turns away and walks ALONGSIDE the queue all the way to the back. You can see the queue of people trying to bury themselves into the supermarket window to try and maintain the two-metre distance. Once you are in the supermarket, the two-metre distancing goes to pot. Everyone tries to steer themselves and their trolleys away from others, but even though the numbers are kept to a reasonable total, at some point you head for the mango chutneys at the same time and two arms stretch out for the final two jars. Two metres are briefly forgotten. None of this is either funny or worthy of a joke. It's deadly serious but at the same time it's mostly terribly polite and caring and people smile but according to the relentless government radio messages being churned out every hour, anyone, man, woman, child or queue-jumper can be a virus carrier. So there is a chance even a quick trip to the supermarket can infect you by the time you get home. When covering wars in the field for The Times I would always be wary of likely spots for snipers or mines on the road or driving round corners that could lead to an ambush. Your every day is about assessing risks, taking them or not taking them, deciding whether the story has the potential for glorious headlines the next day or, literally, putting your life in danger. Here, in peacetime Britain - and it's the same in any city around the world, particularly in the US at the moment - assessing risk is impossible. None of those in the queue is wearing a label saying, "I have the virus" or "I am a carrier without symptoms". They all look just fine, even the determined or stupid queue-jumper.

If only we had a better idea how much longer we have to stay cooped up

As Donald Rumsfeld would have said, there are so many unknowns we can only guess about and so many unknowns we know nothing about and so many unknowns we don't even know are unknowns that it makes looking into the future a fool's mission. Nevertheless the only way we are going to survive this coronavirus pandemic is when someone in authority and with exceptional knowledge can give us a reasonable prediction. Something like this: on the basis of what we now know, studying the way the virus has spread from country to country and from human being to human being, I can say with some reasonable confidence that by the middle of May we should be over the worst which means that some semblance of normality can return to our lives. From the middle of May, that's six weeks. We all could just about put up with another six weeks of this hibernation if we can start planning the rest of our lives from the middle of May. But what if it's going to stay like this, with businesses going to ruin and the economy diving to zero, and the virus beating all attempts to counter it, for, say, another six months or a year? I really don't think humankind can contemplate that sort of timescale. There HAVE to be brilliant solutions somewhere round some corner to give us hope and optimism. Surely there are enough brilliant minds around to get to grips with this new coronavirus and send it packing. Basically, instead of being forced on the defensive, cowering in our homes in case a virus droplet floats through the window, and building up the courage to go shopping for food, we need to wake up one morning to hear about an amazing, fantastic, life-changing medical/scientific/technogical breakthrough that will save the world and rid the planet of this bl...y virus. That's what we want. Instead we wake up every morning to hear about the latest failure by politicians or health bureaucrats, the latest defects in the system, the latest inadequate efforts to supply protection equipment for our doctors and nurses, the latest indecisions about virus-testing, the latest ghastly victim statistics and the latest pessimism about getting a virus antidote before some far-off month in 2021. Enough already! Please, it's breakthrough time!! We do not want our lives ruled by politicians who tell us we can't lie on our backs in the park for half an hour to enjoy the sun because it could kill people.

The scandal of the empty car park

There have been numerous images of the coronavirus pandemic and the way it has changed us all and where we live. Here are a few: the total emptiness and lack of bustling people and boats and gondolias in Venice, the empty streets of Manhattan, the white-masked population of Wuhan, the loading of bodies wrapped in blue plastic bags into the back of lorries, the worn-looking and dishevelled face of Boris Johnson in self-isolation in his flat at Number 11 Downing Street, the gendarmerie standing alone at the end of the Champs Elysses, Italian families singing from their open windows in northern Italy, totally deserted Las Ramblas in Barcelona, the parks scattered with lonely couples, the empty buses, the packed tube trains in London in the early days, the Pope saying Mass to an empty St Peter's Square, the sombre Italian prime minister spelling out the latest doom figures of fatalities, the skies no longer filled with planes, the exhausted-looking doctors and nurses in intensive-care wards, and the face of the 13-year-old boy in the UK who died of the virus. All never-to-be-forgotten pictures of what this crisis is about. But no image was more shaming for the government and for health chiefs in this country than the photograph of the newly set up instant drive-through virus-testing facility in the huge car park at Chessington World Adventures just outside London in Surrey. Apart from some bloke in a yellow high-viz jacket it was totally absolutely without question EMPTY. Outside in the road leading up to Chessington World Adventures, a real fun place for kids in normal times, was a traffic jam of cars filled with health workers desperate to know whether they had the virus or not so that they could go back to work if found to be negative. But none of them made it to the testing facility because they hadn't booked an appointment beforehand. Doctors and nurses who had taken time out to drive to the spanking new facility were turned away UNLESS they had a pre-arranged appointment. I'm assuming that to get an appointment you had to ring a certain number and it was impossible to get through. But many of the health workers probably just jumped into their cars to take advantage of this wonderful new scheme. Total unbelievable bureaucracy prevented them from getting the test they needed. Thus the empty car park at Chessington. Whoever was responsible for this scandal - and of course one department is blaming another deartment etc etc - should be fired and given a one-way ticket to China.

Outrageous decision to sack the CO of USS Theodore Roosevelt

The sacking of Captain Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is a sorry tale of the big chiefs back home failing to defend a man in charge out on the frontline. I don't know the full story. In particular, I don't know if Captain Crozier had sent a number of signals, emails and texts to his bosses in Pacific Command and to the Pentagon in Washington before he wrote his letter demanding to be heard. I'm assuming he did, so there must be lots of evidence that he had tried to warn his superiors that he was facing a rising crisis with the spread of coronavirus on his ship. The skipper who was clearly very popular with his crew judging by the send-off he received when he left his ship for further dressing-down back in Washington, had the lives of 4,800 sailors and airmen in his hand as well as the onerous responsibility of operating in a part of the world where almost anything can happen to keep them all fully alert. When the first eight sailors fell ill with the virus and were evacuated, Crozier had an immediate problem. Those sailors had mingled with others who had mingled with others who had minged with others. Potentially all of the 4,800 crew could be infected because they work, eat and sleep in such close proximity. Somehow he had to deal with the unprecedented sickness danger at the same time as remaining operational. Many of the crew had taken part in a port visit in the region two weeks before and probably picked up the virus at that time. So, again, potentially every single crew member who went ashore was infected and then brought the virus back on board when they returned to the ship. What a nightmare. Crozier MUST have warned his bosses about the problem and must have said he needed to get to a port as quickly as possible to get the crew checked out. All the crew. Back at the Pentagon officials were just saying that every step would be taken to check on the rest of the crew. But that has to be fluff! The only way to check everyone was to get everyone bar those who needed to keep the ship's nuclear reactors and weapons systems safe, off the carrier and get tested. But that meant admitting one of America's most symbolic power-projection platforms was no longer capable of carrying out its role and duty. So what comes first, the health and safety of the crew or the visible presence of the carrier and its strike group ploughing through the Pacific Ocean. I don't know what conversations went on back in the Pentagon. What I do know is that the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier who decides that the only option he has is to write a letter pleading for his crew and sending copies to a lot of people back in Washington to get their attention is a man who had reached a stage of desperation. The letter was forceful, literally reminding the bosses that the US was not in a state of war and therefore the lives of his crew should not be put at risk. Wow! That sentence alone would have got up the noses of the top people back home. The letter, of course, was leaked. To Captain Crozier's home town newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle. Whether he leaked it himself or one of the 30 odd people he sent the letter to, I don't know. But the Navy chiefs in the Pentagon clearly thought it was him. So he was fired, despite the fact that earlier officials had said it was perfectly fine for a commanding officer to raise concerns up the chain of command. But obviously it was the wording in the letter and the leaking that wasn't perfectly fine. Sacking the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier in the middle of an operational tour is a huge step at any time but to do so when he was clearly fighting for the men and women under his command, that in my view is outrageous. Think of the damage it will do for the morale of the crew. A bad bad decision.

Under the cover of bad news the US is moving against dictator Maduro

The commander of US Southern Command Admiral Craig Faller is a doubty chap who has forceful views and for a long time he has been calling for tougher action on Venezuela and against the drug traffickers shipping cocaine into America. Now he has got his wish in a double whammy decision by Donald Trump. First, secret closed indictments against Nicolas Maduro, the former bus driver turned president of Venezuela, were unsealed and lo and behold the uninspiring authoritarian politician ruining his country is charged with drug trafficking. Wow. And then,thanks to Admiral Faller's constant requests, the US Navy is moving warships into the region to try and catch the drug-runners using all kinds of sea vessels to smugggle tons of cocaine into the US. Maduro obviously sees this as an attempt to overthrow him. And in a way it is because that's what the White House wants but without actually sending in the Marines to blow him out of office. Identifying him as a narcotics hoodlum and surrounding him with warships to grab his alleged associates as they make millions of dollars transporting drugs into America are two moves intended to put maximum pressure on him. But of course without the resort to force, Maduro will survive. Why? For two reasons: he has the support, military and financial, of Russia and Cuba, and the huge amount of money he is, allegedly, making from the narcotic business is helping him to keep sweet the generals and admirals and police chiefs upon whose loyalty he and his regime depend. They all get fat salaries, and the money is certainly not coming from the treasury coffers because they are running dry. But the vast sums made from drug trafficking, allegedly, are being used to boost the salaries of these top military and police chiefs. It's a vicious circle which the US hasn't really got to grips with, until now. But even the US Navy cannot be everywhere at the same time, and drug boats and mini-submarines will still get through. So, provided the revenue from drug trafficking doesn't get hit too hard it's difficult to see how the tougher approach by the White House will succeed in ousting Maduro. With Russia and Cuba backing him, and that includes Russian Spetnaz special forces and Cuban troops, Maduro will feel safe. An operation like the one in 1989 when US Navy Seals seized Panamanian leader General Manuel Noriega, also charged with being a drug trafficker, would be more of a challenge in Caracas. US special operations troops would find themselves fighting Russians and Cubans. But Maduro cannot feel totally safe. He will have read and read the books and newspaper articles on Operation Just Cause when Noriega was forced to surrender while holing up at the Vatican embassy in Panama City. He must have nightmares in his bed at night about meeting a similar fate. And while the world is traumatised by the coronavirus pandemic, now might be the best time for the US to try and grab Maduro.

Who can you trust in this new mad world?

We are all getting buried in dire statistics but which ones can we believe and who can we trust to tell us what is really happening? Donald Trump has today very kindly criticised Boris Johnson for being too slow to react to the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, saying that if he had followed the British prime minister's example it would have been "catastrophic" for the US. Well charming, thank you for your supportive words to your most loyal ally. If Boris is sensible he won't answer back because there is no need. Trump has changed his mind about the seriousness of the virus so many times that I'd be surprised if most Americans have a clue about what is going on in the US, now the worst-affected country in the world. The latest figures I don't understand are the ones declared by the president yesterday which every newspaper has repeated. Based on the latest scientific advice, he said, there could be between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths from the virus in the US. And that's even despite the current scial distancing rules. I'm not blaming Trump for these figures. He just passed on what Dr Anthony Fauci, a key member of his coronavirus task force, said, based on the latest modelling. Trump further warned that the next two weeks were going to be very painful. But what I want to know is: the current fatality total in the US from coronavirus is 3,606, as of last night, so can it really be possible that the death rate will climb to 100,000 and way beyond over the next few weeks? What is this modelling? How do they work it all out to come up with a total like that? I'm not saying it's wrong, but what is the key modelling assumption that leads to such a huge jump in deaths? There are around 181,000 virus cases in the US, so the number of deaths is relatively low. Dr Fauci who pops up all the time says he hopes it won't get that far and could be much lower if people keep their distance. My unscientific assumption is the following: most people in America, like elsewhere in the world, are sensible and relatively obedient, they do not want to get the virus and definitely don't want to do anything that might lead to their premature death. So on that basis, the number of deaths will rise steadily but not horrendously so until a peak is reached and then the toll will start to decline, hopefully quite rapidly. Trump talks of two painful weeks ahead. But surely he is not suggesting that the figure of 100,000 could be reached in the next two weeks. That could only happen if every American, man, woman and child, emerged from their homes at the same time and held the biggest party ever witnessed. That's not going to happen, so why scare the living daylights out of the population by saying that up to 240,000 could die from coronavirus. Strange, that's almost exactly the same figure that was trotted out by our experts here in the UK. They said that unless social distancing was maintained, up to 260,000 people could die. What's with these alarming statistics? Who are we to believe? We are all leading a bizarre life at the moment, staying at home. Billions of people are staying at home around the world. Why doesn't someone in authority actually say: "Thanks to a very obedient population, unprecedented since the Second World War, we should be on course for reducing the expected number of deaths by a huge margin. Well done everyone."