The PM's announcement of #2ndLockdown is a body blow to the British people. Just as the economy was picking up, even giving cause for optimism, we're now to impersonate the Grand Old Duke of York, giving in to the scientific advisers & marching England back into another lockdown.

The way that the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has pressurised the Government into taking this decision has been unprecedented. Normally, advisers advise & ministers decide. Yet that system has broken down...

...with Sage believing its advice to be more like commandments written on stone and its members publicly lecturing the Government over the airways when it disagrees. This is despite the fact that many of its recommendations have been hotly disputed by other reputable scientists.