As It Happened: Queen addresses nation, as Boris Johnson goes to hospital

Authored by bbc.co.uk and submitted by Jedi883

"Together we are tackling this disease… if we remain united and resolute we will overcome it".

– The aim of this address is to offer reassurance and emphasise the need for unity.

“In the years to come”, she hopes everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to the challenge.

– The Queen has an eye on how history will judge our actions today.

"Those who come after us will say..."

– Another reference to history and a strong parallel with Churchill’s speech after the fall of France in 1940 – that even after 1,000 years "they will still say: 'This was their finest hour'." It’s an implicing war reference.

"Self discipline", "quiet good humoured resolve", "fellow-feeling".

– The national attributes the Queen chooses to highlight are not warlike or aggressive – she is not framing this as a struggle or a conflict.

“The pride of who we are is not in our past, it defines our present and our future.”

– A key line that aims to reassure and inspire.

Clap for carers “an expression of our national spirit” with its symbol “the rainbows drawn by children”.

– Others talk about the Blitz; the Queen celebrates a new national coming-together.

– The first direct reference to wartime and it is full of the innocence of childhood, and empathy with those who cannot see their parents, grandparents or their children.

“We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us.”

– Again, a steely reassurance and a call to collective effort.

“We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families; we will meet again.”

– Take heart, the Queen said, this will be over one day. And she finishes with one more glancing reference to a previous conflict and the song many remember from that time – We’ll Meet Again.

Buck-Nasty on April 5th, 2020 at 23:21 UTC »

Seems worse than the BBC is letting on.

"The Guardian was told last week that [Boris] Johnson was more seriously ill than either he or his officials were prepared to admit, and that he was being seen by doctors who were concerned about his breathing."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/05/boris-johnson-admitted-to-hospital-with-coronavirus

Al-Andalusia on April 5th, 2020 at 21:05 UTC »

“This is a precautionary step, as the Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus,” Downing Street said.

Johnson, 55, on March 27 became the first leader of a major power to announce that he had tested positive. He went into isolation at a flat in Downing Street and said on Friday he was staying there as he still had a high temperature.

Johnson continues to have a high temperature and Downing Street underscored that this was not an emergency admission. The prime minister’s doctors considered it sensible for him to be seen in person.

[...]Carrie Symonds, Johnson’s 32-year-old pregnant fiancée, said on Saturday that she had spent the past week in bed with symptoms of the novel coronavirus but after seven days of rest felt stronger and was on the mend.

He's had symptoms for around 10 days or so. I believe the virus causes flu-like symptoms after 7 days.

He’s 55 but had pneumonia as a child. So I think this puts him at a slightly higher risk.

Roasten on April 5th, 2020 at 20:29 UTC »

3rd March: “I was at a hospital the other night where I think a few there were actually coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you’ll be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands."