Hello, welcome back to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

I'm Bronwyn Maddox. The coronavirus death toll is rising, the hospital beds are filling up,

and governments across the globe

under pressure to do more, if doing rather well in terms of approval ratings so far.

The Prime Minister himself is working in isolation, and Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary,

is his designated survivor. So we'll be asking what that means and how a government functions

when the person in charge is absent from the room

where it happens. Meanwhile in the US, Donald Trump has swung around not just to accept

the gravity of the situation but to urge Americans to do much more, but the governors of

the 50 states are each taking their own view. We'll take a closer look at the Trump

administration's handling of the crisis and whether it's an advantage or a handicap for the US to have the federal system of government of which it is so proud. Before we start,

really quick reminder about our new sister podcast, IFG Live, all the panels, talks, updates,

discussions that we're usually be holding in our London headquarters are taking place online

and you can listen to them as podcasts.

This week you can hear a fascinating discussion about the role of special advisors, as well as a

closer look at what civil service reform, remember that, back from Dominic Cummings in Christmas,

what that might look like once this crisis has eased. Find IFG live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get

inside briefing, or at our website, Institute for Government.org.com. And today, two IFG Starwarts

are joining me from their homes on either side of London. Senior fellow Kath Haddon is with us.

Kath, how are you? Hello, I am all better from

suspected coronavirus, but I'm well now, thankfully, so yeah, through the other side of it.

You have been much, much on our minds. Tell us just a bit of what's happening in Parliament,

...