There were three messages in Boris Johnson’s address to the nation, and quite a lot of important gaps.

The messages were:

1. Because the Covid-19 epidemic has been tempered but not eliminated, lockdown continues – though will be modified very gradually;
2. It would be a jolly good thing if a few more of us could return to work, especially on construction sites and in factories, so long as that can be done in a way that does not imperil health;
3. The pace at which lockdown is modified, and whether it is modified at all, is in the collective hands of the British people, and will...