They love their NATO-style acronyms, don t they? How many times during this pandemic have we been informed ominously that the Prime Minister has convened an emergency meeting of COBRA?
Back on March 3, as coronavirus was coming to be seen as a clear and present danger, I observed in this column: COBRA sounds like something out of a disaster movie, conjuring up images of West Wing-style hotlines, war games and giant TV screens linked by satellite to a high-tech bunker on some remote Pacific island. The reality . . . is more mundane. COBRA actually stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A.
Mind you, as I pointed out at the time, given Boris s Churchillian sense of showmanship, I was surprised the Government hadn t immediately relocated to Winston s old war rooms under King Charles Street.