THE coronavirus pandemic has drastically altered life as we know it, forcing us to ponder the fundamentals of our society.
Entertainment venues are being converted into emergency hospitals, lockdown rules are being enforced and unprecedented financial measures have been introduced.
And yet some things never change – particularly when it comes to right-wing commentator Toby Young.
He has interpreted the coronavirus crisis as yet more proof of Britain’s unrivalled exceptionalism.
In Young’s eyes, no-one better encapsulates that exceptionalism than Boris Johnson, who has been in an intensive care unit after contracting coronavirus.
But he does not blame the highly infectious virus for the Prime Minister’s plight.
“It’s his sense of public duty that has landed him in this hole,” Young explains.
“People who don’t know him, and even some who do, talk disapprovingly of his arrogance and vaulting ambition. But the man I’ve known for more than 35 years contains multitudes, of which Richard III is only one. Henry V is also in there, one of his better angels.
“He cannot resist the pull of obligation to his country, the need to be of service.”
This, of course, is not even Young’s most outrageous response to the Covid-19 crisis. Last month he was branded heartless” after claiming spending cash on saving elderly people from the coronavirus pandemic is “irresponsible”.
READ MORE: Fury over Toby Young's claims about elderly people
In his conclusion, Young does at least admits he is motivated by “irrational beliefs”.
He writes: “I am not a man of faith, but at moments like this you realise you’re still animated by certain core, irrational beliefs. One of those is a kind of mystical belief in Britain’s greatness and her ability to occasionally bring forth remarkable individuals — ordinary men and women of extraordinary ability, to paraphrase Bagehot — who can serve her at critical junctures.
“I’ve always thought of Boris as one of those people — not just suspected it, but known it in my bones. And in spite of his shrinking odds of survival, I still cannot bring myself to doubt. Britain isn’t finished with you yet, Boris.
“You will come back to us, full of strength and vigour, larger than life like never before. You must.”
We’ll leave the final word to Sunday National columnist Gerry Hassan.
“This really does take the biscuit,” he tweeted.
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