Britain has the worst coronavirus death toll in Europe.

I don't think there's any doubt that a quicker lockdown would have saved many, many, many lives.

The government had told us we were prepared. So what went wrong?

If you look at what was happening in the rest of Europe, Britain was becoming more and more of an outlier.

You're listening to stories of our times

from the Times and the Sunday Times.

I'm Manveen Rana.

Today, 22 days of dither and delay.

Why was the UK before Christmas when all through our home.

Friends were waiting for drinks at the party we'd thrown.

With an espresso martini mixer from Fever Tree,

all you need to add is the vodka, you see.

Five espresso martinis ready in a second.

A Christmas miracle, everybody reckoned.

So this holiday season, mix with the the best with fever tree cocktails for you and your guests.

Please enjoy responsibly. The government's handling of lockdown has proved controversial. If he doesn't resign, we'll just keep burning through Boris's political capital.

Not least because Dominic Cummings, one of the Prime Minister's most senior advisors, is now

thought to have flouted the rules.

As well as traveling 260 miles to Durham to self isolate

with his family close to his parents, he also took two day trips.

Are you going to consider your position, Mr. Cummings? There are plenty of questions for the government to answer but the one we're asking is could lives have been saved if the government had been saved if the government had just chosen to lockdown earlier.

I'm Jonathan Calvert. I'm the editor of the Insight team at Sunday Times and I'm

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