A Journal of the Plague Year

Friday 27th March A long phone call from my old friend, Francois, who lives on the outskirts of Paris with his remarkable wife, Delphine, and three daughters Fanny, Alix and Jade. I had dropped him a line to make sure they were all okay. They are. He thinks one daughter has had it mildly but has recovered. One friend, a contemporary, had it badly, was hospitalised, but survived. He spoke about talking to his friend on the phone when he had recovered. He was so bad he simply could not breathe. Our conversation ranged across the economic disaster that waits in the wings for our countries though he was careful to take a positive line on it, the madness of Trump, the opportunities this virus has produced for us to think together as one world, not separately. We spoke hopefully about mutually assured survival. The economic realities of the virus-effect was uppermost in his mind. Not surprisingly. He has a family to feed.

Friday 27th March – 7.30pm It is upsetting to realise that this virus knows us better than we know it. I have already pointed out that we know nothing about it – its habits, its behaviours, its state of mind, its position on the Middle East or the Albigencian heresy. But it knows us quite well. For example it knows that when challenged we want to spring into action. Our instinct (of which it is astonishingly aware) is to band together, lock arms and face the enemy. Call me old-fashioned, but that's bloody clever. It knows that when threatened, we get in a tight group – the perfect formation for spreading itself further among us. Not only that, but we get our blood up, start yelling and waving clubs, shouting, singing and expelling virus-carrying sputum from our mouths. And when we look around, there's nothing there. I was fascinated at the American reaction. "Let's go and buy a sub-machine gun, Honey. The virus is coming." And so they queued up in close proximi...

Thursday 27th March – 1.30pm A call from our great friends in Italy, Marianna and Simone. As a carabinieri officer he is fully occupied with the consequences of fighting the virus. It has been carnage in the North, but thankfully the family in Florence are all okay. They sounded chipper, and were looking forward to the day when we can split a bottle of Amarone and celebrate survival. The big news of the day there is Boris Johnson getting corona virus, and a rumour has swept Italy that The Duke of Edinburgh has died. I told her that, as she had thought, it appeared to be fake news, but both him and his missus will surely be in the strictest isolation. He in Balmoral. She in Windsor. So they won't be catching it off each other. Which reminds me, I must get my second, third and fourth homes out of mothballs. They may be useful. And perhaps the yacht too?

Friday 27th March – 1pm It is not a usual thing to cheer when the Prime Minister of your country becomes infected with a life-threatening disease. One may have one's disagreements, but one draws the line. In this case however, the news is very welcome. Firstly, he is not badly affected. Secondly, he went on TV to say that he was self-isolating. From now, that is. When the rest of us have been doing it for yonks. Hoist with his own petard or what? Thirdly, it is only now that government will get into high gear. Before you know it all red tape will be cut through and things will suddenly start flowing properly. The word will come down from on high that purse-strings should be loosened, and process be done away with. Tests will be disseminated the length and breadth of the land. 10 weeks too late, but hey. Only now will we begin to tackle the virus properly. The real delight is that everyone who has been working with him for the last few weeks will also have to self-isolate. T...

Friday 27th March – 12 noon Somewhere in a dacha in the Moscow countryside Valdimir Putin is smiling. He is laying his plans. With Europe on its knees and America increasingly crippled as it will never be again, there is a fantastic opportunity for him to return to his favourite project, expanding Russia to re-absorb former soviet-dominated countries. Georgia and Belarus had better watch out. Trump will do nothing. A bit of bluster and a couple of threats. But he will do nothing mostly because his country is falling apart over Coronavirus. Like us in the UK he made no practical plans for pandemic, ignored WHO warnings and is now suffering the consequences. NATO will do nothing without the US, and anyway are in knots over coronavirus themselves. They must be. The virus is no respecter of persons. According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus map (constantly updated) Russia has 1036 cases and has suffered 3 deaths. Whether you believe that or not is up to you. The only th...