Two things stuck with me today. The first was the documentary on BBC2 about an Italian hospital tackling the Coronavirus. The second was Mark Francois’s graceless letter to Barnier. /1

The doctor, near-crushed by what she was facing, was dedicated, dignified and real. I know so many like her, throwing everything into helping those who are helpless. Francois, by contrast, seems unreal. His smug aggression is cartoonish almost to the point of abstraction. /2

Her courage is a line of melody in a symphonic work of compassion. It needs the co-operation and co-ordination of many brave people. His chest-beating is selfishness. It is the honking note of horn on a clown car. /end