It may come as a surprise to Boris – laughing boy – Johnson, the Flatulent Leader and his cohorts of foul and incompetent acolytes, but coronavirus is not a joke.  His designation of the urgent need, back in March, for more ventilators as “Operation Last Gasp,” must rank as one of the stupidest and offensive comments made by any prime minister.   His idiotic boast about shaking hands with virus sufferers resulted, deservedly, in the obvious.  This is a prime minister who cannot be trusted.

A prime minister, it now transpires, too lazy to attend COBRA meetings even as the most deadly risk to British citizens for half a century approached.

The latest news: that the supplies of personal protective equipment for health service workers promised to arrive over the weekend have failed to turn up, is par for the course.   In fact, they have even run out of the tacky little badges offered to acknowledge the vital and selfless work being done by NHS staff.

And yet, with its majority of 80, the government is unassailable.   We are not witnessing a democratic process, but an unelected, democratic dictatorship.  Frustration is rising: most people want competent, honest, open leadership.  That is not on offer.  most people do not wish to press ahead with Brexit – arguably a sizeable majority now wish they had never heard its name – the government is determined to press ahead.   One lesson from the 1930s was that the public of any country can only be pushed so far.

The pressure cooker is heating.