I have pinched this from Stephen Bush - Political Editor of The Spectator: The government has a three-stage plan. --------------------------- The Containment stage - that's where we are now - could now see the closing down of other government services to help contain. That has two aspects: the shutting down of individual schools and workplaces to prevent further infection, and the shutting down of government services to redirect resources elsewhere. ------------------------- Delay: if containment fails, to try and delay widespread infection until after the end of the flu season, when the pressure on the NHS will be lower. ---------------------- And if that fails: mitigation, to tackle the consequences of the worst-case scenario, which could see a fifth of British people admitted to hospital. ------------------------------ The biggest peacetime operation in the United Kingdom in living memory is now underway - and one way or another, the economic and political consequences are likely to be with us for a long time, even if the government's Plan A - containment - does succeed.