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Evening Standard comment: The Queen speaks for us all as Britain fights the virus | Starmer sorts his cabinet | Play games to keep safeBy Evening Standard

The Queen’s address last night brought the nation together.

She spoke simply and powerfully about the awful crisis facing all of us and she drew on the unique experience of her long life to show us that there are better times ahead. “I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” she said.

No other head of state could refer, as she did, to a radio address they made eight decades ago, when our country faced a much greater peril. Hearing her talk of 1940 last night was extraordinary.

But the fact that she had to make the broadcast at all, so soon after the Prince of Wales also spoke from Scotland, is a sign of how bad things are today.

Britain went into full lockdown two weeks ago today.

The number of coronavirus cases is still rising fast. So, sadly, are the number of deaths. There are small signs of hope in figures from Italy and Spain, but much grim news, too.

Workers on the frontline are losing their lives — nurses and doctors, as well as others helping keep the country moving including eight bus workers in London. We salute them.

News that Boris Johnson, who has been ill for over a week, is now undergoing what are said to be tests in St Thomas’ Hospital is also reminder that no one is safe from this threat, and that all of us need the NHS now more than ever. We cannot know how serious the illness is for him, except that he would not have gone to hospital if it could have been avoided.

We wish him the very best for a rapid return to good health as everyone with any compassion, whatever their political views, will be doing today.

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Almost 24m tune in to watch Queen’s words of hope

As Tony Blair said this morning, it is a “hellish” situation for the Prime Minister to find himself in. A sense of duty will call on him to keep working, but as anyone who has suffered bad symptoms from this grim disease can tell you, recovery must come first.

Good luck to him, and to everyone, well and ill, as they cope with the strangest and most difficult weeks most of us have ever known.

Amid the fear of economic ruin, and personal loss, the people of our country, from the Queen to frontline workers, are showing their determination to bring us through to better times.

As Her Majesty put it last night: “We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”

Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast

Starmer sorts his cabinet

Labour’s new leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has made a good start. He’s shown massively better judgment than his predecessor, clearing out the shadow cabinet and appointing what, at first sight, promises to be a capable team.

Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, and Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, are not famous names yet but their arrival is a sign Sir Keir wants to take the party back to some sort of sanity after years of being held hostage by Jeremy Corbyn’s toxic blend of bigoted Marxism.

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Thousands falling through gaps in rescue deal - shadow chancellor

Others in the new shadow cabinet, such as Lisa Nandy, the new shadow foreign secretary, who was one of the few stars of the leadership contest, stand out, too.

The absences are as significant as the appointments: no big job for Rebecca Long-Bailey, the person the hard-Left wanted to win, and no role either for deputy leader candidate Richard Burgon or Mr Corbyn.

Sir Keir has made his first mark as a leader: but, miles behind in the polls and crushed at the last election, he knows his party’s route back to relevance will be long and very difficult.

Play games to keep safe

Until now Candy Crush has been better at killing time than saving lives. But Britain’s world-leading computer games makers are putting messages backing the lockdown on screen. Stay in, plug in and save lives. Who knew gaming was good for you?