18 Daily Express Wednesday, April 8, 2020
We’re with you
‘If you don’t like the
road you’re walking,
start paving a new one’
- Dolly Parton
✁
FLUFFY SCOTCH PANCAKES
SERVES 4
Ingredients: 100g self-raising four;
quarter of a tsp baking powder; 50g
sugar; one egg; 60ml milk;
vegetable oil, to grease; your
toppings of choice to serveScottish pancakes are the
ultimate weekend treat in my
house. They can be topped with
anything you want, including
chocolate spread, peanut butter,
jam, bananas, frozen berries,
honey and syrup... the
possibilities are endless!
Personally I like mine toasted
with butter.Method: Sieve the flour, baking
powder and sugar into a bowl.
Add the egg and whisk together,
gradually adding splashes of milk
as you continue whisking. You
want a relatively thick, smooth
batter, about the same
consistency as double cream.
Moisten a paper towel with
vegetable oil, then use this to
grease a thick-based frying pan.
Put the pan on the hob over a
medium-high heat and when it is
hot, ladle in some of the batter. As
it starts to bubble on the surface,
turn over the pancake and cook
for two or three minutes until
browned. Enjoy with your
favourite toppings! If you have
leftovers, keep them in the fridge
as a tasty snack for later. Just pop
them in the toaster to reheat.●Extracted from
Feed Your Family
for £20 A Week:
100 Budget-
friendly, Batch-
Cooking Recipes
You’ll All Enjoy
by Lorna Cooper
(Seven Dials,
£16.99). For free
UK delivery call
Express
Bookshop on 01872 56310 or
order via expressbookshop.co.ukA Daily Express writer shares her
self-isolation experience and
invites readers to send in theirsSTUCK at home in self-isolation? You
need to get that body moving to help
your mental and physical health.
So the Daily Express is bringing
you a daily exercise from
award-winning fitness coach Julie
Bartlett. They are especially suitable
for older readers and are designed toLet’s pray that Boris’s big blustering voice
will be booming out at us all again soon
I KNOW this column is supposed to be a
light-hearted look at isolation. But today my
heart is heavy. I don’t know how you felt when
you heard Boris had been taken to intensive
care. I felt like I’d been kicked in the guts.
Because it brought home the fact that NO ONE
is immune to this virus. And I was scared for
reasons that are both personal and political.
On a personal level, it doesn’t matter
whether you voted for Boris or whether you’re
a Tory – he’s a human being. He’s a father, a
son, a brother and a fiancé and he’s fighting for
his life because he was working flat out for this
country and didn’t take time out to fight this
virus. And for that he’s been viciously abused
by some on social media. This father-to-be on
oxygen in intensive care has been the butt of
sick jokes and wished dead by monsters who
have no heart and no soul and have no place in
this army we call the human race. Of
course we all know he should have
taken time off to recover. I’m
sure he was told a million
times by his medical team
that he’d be no use to
anyone if he didn’t throttle
back. And of course it was
wrong not to heed
medical advice but there’s
a huge part of me that is
in awe of his
determination to do his
duty and navigate the
country through a time of
terrifying and unprecedented
crisis – whatever the cost to him.
I’m sure Boris also gets that if a
country’s leader is felled by the very
things he’s busting a gut to fight it generates
fear and instability. So he tried to soldier on...
Second, on a political level I’m scared that
Boris is no longer running the country because
even if he does recover, he won’t be back in
action for a while. And I’m scared of what will
become of us because when a leader gets sick
and the people around him are fobbing us off
with lies about how he’s in “high spirits” and
that going into hospital is only a “precautionary
measure” it makes you wonder: what else are
we being lied to about?
It was clear from Monday’s press briefing
that all was not well. Dominic Raab was like a
rabbit in the car headlights when he was being
quizzed about Boris’s condition. Even when he
was admitted to ICU, we were told it was
precautionary. I’m sorry but only the gravely ill
are admitted to ICU. And to try to put apositive spin on that made a frightening
situation very much worse.
And yes, we have some very able politicians
in the Cabinet but Boris is the heart and soul of
it. He’s the fire, the energy, he’s the
decision-maker and I fear without him at the
helm there will be an almighty power grab by
ministers who all have differing views on
where we should go next. On whether
the lockdown continues? On when
the economy should be kick-
started? Make no mistake the
manner in which this
government leads us out of
lockdown will determine
whether it – and us –
survive. And I get the fact
that some want to keep
lockdown in place for a
while longer but too much
longer will mean our
economy will be so badly
damaged it will never
recover. Now is THE most
crucial time in this crisis and we
face it without our leader, without
a plan on how this is all going to end.
And while Dominic Raab is a decent
politician, he’s not the leader to navigate us
through this crisis.
So, let’s pray Boris pulls through. Let’s pray
that big blustering voice will be booming out at
us all soon.
And while you pray for him, say a prayer for
his fiancée Carrie Symonds who is not just
carrying his unborn child – due in a few weeks- but she too is battling the virus and is unable
to be at the side of the man she loves. Like
millions of others who are going through the
same – THAT agony must be unbearable.
The fact is most of us who voted in the
election didn’t vote for the Tories – we voted
for Boris. And THAT’S why he has to pull
through. And I pray that by the time this goes
to print he’s sitting up in bed and saying, “Sod
this virus!” Because Britain needs him!
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crucial
face it with
a plan on howJOGGING really is the devil’s workout isn’t
it? Since my local gym closed due to
lockdown, I’ve taken to pounding the streets
like many others. Keeping a safe social
distance, of course.
But it doesn’t come naturally to me. During
my school’s annual cross country race, I was
always one of the stragglers the teacher
yelled at because it was nearly lunch and
they didn’t want to be standing in a cold
muddy field a moment longer.
For starters I never know what to wear. Do
I wear a hoodie or will I get too hot... who
am I kidding? I’m no Dina Asher-Smith. And
where are you supposed to keep your keys? I
have to slip mine into my sports bra – needs
must I’m afraid. When I have finally made itout the door, I’m already thinking about how
long I am willing to do this to myself. How
long is a jog supposed to be? I’ve no idea.
But I’ve stuck at it, strapping on my
trainers every couple of days and surprised
myself when I clocked up a 10-kilometre run
last week without passing out.
And does my body feel any different? Yes,my hamstrings are now so tight you can play
them like a harp.
So, it was music to my ears when Lorraine
Beale, from Taunton, Somerset,
recommended Yoga with Adriene on YouTube
as a form of stress-free fitness.
And Lorraine’s two cats Haachi and Tansy
like to get in on the action. Lorraine writes: