“Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

The big picture is that Johnson is dashing for growth. We devoutly hope it works but the precedents aren’t promising.

Cummings makes the weather as a hard rain falls on Sedwill

Three cheers for three reforms: of the civil service, of Ministers and of one that this Government tends to avoid – of public services.

“If this Government is to reform so much, it must also reform itself.” Gove’s speech on change in Whitehall. Full text.

“Now we must listen to ideas on transforming government itself…because the machinery of government is no longer equal to the challenges of today.”

Friends of Cummings: “A hard rain is coming.”

“Dom is a decentraliser,” we were told.  “But he’s resistant to decentralising to people who he thinks aren’t up to the job.”

Nick Herbert: Whitehall musn’t return to business as usual after Coronavirus. We need radical, energetic, can-do fusion government.

Reshaping Whitehall must be sanctioned by the Prime Minister, but he can empower the Government’s proven reformer, Michael Gove, to drive change.

Why the Cabinet Office will be in the dock for Covid failures when the inquiry comes. As will Sedwill.

The Treasury has been welded at the top to Number Ten. Now there’s a push to do more of the same to the Office.

Craig Hoy: We must be ready – the Scottish Nationalists certainly will be

With Holyrood elections probably a year away now, Conservatives north of the border need to be prepared for when the campaign starts.

Aidan Shilson-Thomas: The Job Retention Scheme was an excellent intervention. But it needs changes – fast.

‘Short-time’ working is the Chancellor’s best bet for weaning employers off state support.

The question isn’t whether to end the lockdown. It’s when and how to do it. Can the Government rise to the challenge?

The Prime Minister’s hospitalisation accentuates the need for a new strategic structure to support a new strategic plan.

John Redwood: Why the Government’s response to the virus can’t be settled by the science – with decisions made by epidemiologists

Many of these matters can only be made on the basis of imperfect information. The advantage of the elected official making the ultimate decision is one of accountability.

John Redwood: Lessons for managing civil service obstruction from the Thatcher years. And my role as head of her Policy Unit.

There were plenty of Yes Minister routines and scripts to live through then as now. Much of the system did not like the privatisation programme.

The Moggcast Returns. “Wash your hands for one verse of the National Anthem” – “we can all play our part” against Coronavirus.

Jacob Rees-Mogg also gives his view on “marvellous” Priti Patel and the role of the civil service. Plus: does he think his Grenfell comment was a mistake?

The behaviours of the civil service

At the heart of the Rutnam row is its reservations not only about how the post-Brexit journey is being negotiated, but about taking it in the first place.

Andrew Haldenby: Even after austerity, shocking amounts of money are wasted by underperforming state bodies

Voters are more open to higher spending, but if they pay higher taxes for services that don’t improve then they won’t be happy.

Beware the Eye of Johnson

It is straining to be bigger and better, and see further, faster. But the lesson of the story is that it can’t see everywhere at once.