Here are the key stories for the day, with thanks to our WhatsApp group who keep these coming in all day. There are now 126 members of the group, with every street represented.

Editorial:

We hope that technical problems have been resolved. There had been some form of hacking attack at our internet service provider and so they had disabled all access to the servers. It took most of yesterday to resolve.

After the podcast yesterday, there was a healthy discussion about whether the Village should have a flag pole. The view was definitely yes, but there were many opinions on where this should be sited.

There was another healthy turnout for the NHS last night at 8pm.

And gosh was the group busy with swaps. From eggs to canoes. Who knew there was so much useful stuff in our garages!

Birthdays:

Today is the birthday of Jim May from Duchy Close. It will be his wife Brenda's birthday on the 26th April. They were born in the same hospital in Somerset in the same year. They probably even met in the hospital nursery during the first few days of their lives and they are still together!

Nationally:

• UK reported hospital deaths from Covid-19 went up by 638 to 18,738. The number of new infections is still running at over 4,000 a day but the Government has now announced that they believe we have passed the peak. Our infection and death rate are now above that of Italy at the same stage.

This chart has aligned the epidemics from 4 countries with different approaches to the crisis.

Locally:

The Northamptonshire figures yesterday again reported corrections to previous days and are now two days behind the National figures. We are still running at 30 infections a day but there is a clear downward trend.

Daily links (all verified):

And finally . . .

As the barbers and hairdressers remain closed . . .

Stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.