Boris Johnson’s illness has darkened Britain’s mood
The illness of a man who once divided the nation has united it
Editor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hub
BORIS JOHNSON has always believed that history was not made just by vast impersonal forces but by great men and women who change its course through their sheer talent and willpower. His admiration for Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher springs from this worldview; so did his decision to reject the belief widespread in the establishment that Britain’s destiny lay in the European Union and to lead the country out of it.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Missing Boris"
Britain April 11th 2020
- Boris Johnson’s illness will test Britain’s constitution
- Keir Starmer: Labour’s electable new leader
- How to build social consensus around lockdown
- How 5G conspiracy theories used covid-19 to go viral
- A sharp drop in accident-and-emergency admissions worries medics
- How covid-19 is changing funerals
- Covid-19 causes Britain’s fastest economic contraction on record
- Boris Johnson’s illness has darkened Britain’s mood
More from Britain
Why Britain’s membership of the ECHR has become a political issue
And why leaving would be a mistake
The ECtHR’s Swiss climate ruling: overreach or appropriate?
A ruling on behalf of pensioners does not mean the court has gone rogue
Why are so many bodies in Britain found in a decomposed state?
To understand Britons’ social isolation, consider their corpses