Columnists

Ryan Bourne: Don’t fret about this debt – at least not yet. Big tax rises would choke economic recovery.

If it proves a temporary blowout rather than permanent, accumulated debt levels being modestly higher looks manageable.

Luke Evans: What is “the new normal” – in Parliament, my constituency, and throughout Britain?

Despite media provocation to constantly move the story on, a new pseudo-normality has dawned; and yet no-one quite knows what the boundaries are.

James Frayne: The Coronavirus will radically recharge our national debate about fairness and justice

The mass of the public will demand answers to questions that previously had relatively limited appea – such as: why the postcode lottery in healthcare?

Rebecca Lowe: Truss’s policy speech on trans was an astonishing victory for common sense – and children’s rights

The Minister for Women and Equalities deserves support from all who care about their safety and wellbeing of children.

Richard Holden: Labour has socially distanced from voters in my seat – and others in the north and midlands. Starmer won’t change that.

The party is pinned down where it feels at home – in its new heartlands of central London, the middle of major cities and the University towns.

David Gauke: The Government’s lockdown message has been almost too effective – rather than not enough

I am beginning to worry that there may come a time when there will be a need for a more nuanced message – but the public won’t be willing to hear it.

Iain Dale: Starmer makes a good start. Now, just remind me. His predecessor was Jeremy…who?

Plus: Scam PPE offers. Johnson’s very real illness. And: I’m wondering about the rest of his body. (My dog’s, not my partner’s.)

Henry Hill: Carlaw complains to the BBC about its coverage of the Scottish Government

Also: Supermarkets reject Drakeford’s bid to shift blame for deliveries fiasco; Welsh health minister faces calls to resign; and more.

Garvan Walshe: How the Coronavirus set up Netanyahu for his great escape

Recent events confirm his reputation for being more subtle than any beast in the field of Israeli politics.

Robert Halfon: If we stay in this shutdown beyond the end of May, it won’t be a threat to our liberty, but the safeguarding of our lives

If police officers are shouting at people with loudhailers and disbanding picnickers in local parks, then, good.

Luke Evans: The virus, its aftermath – and why we need a mature, open discussion about helping the dying through their final days

The truth is that we are talking about death now more than we have in years, for many of us perhaps more than we have ever talked about it.