There now follows a ministerial broadcast from the Prime Minister.
The coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced for decades, and this country is not alone.
None of us have ever heard a message like it.
This is a moment of national emergency.
Will it work?
Can the people of London and indeed Britain hold their collective breath?
That is the test, perhaps, upon which history will judge this country.
Britain shuts down.
No peacetime Prime Minister in the modern era in this country has introduced such draconian measures.
On 23 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the country's first national lockdown.
In the months since, there has been a seismic shift in all our lives.
As we embark upon 2021, and hopefully the latter stages of the pandemic,
now is an apt moment to reflect on how we've got to where we are.
While the scientific community have taken central stage in the fight to overcome the virus,
how have the social sciences helped us navigate and evaluate the UK's response?
Welcome to LSEIQ.
I'm James Ratie, and in this podcast, we are social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question.
In this episode of LSEIQ, I ask, what's the point of social sciences in a pandemic?
Anthropology might not be the first academic discipline that comes to mind when thinking about what expertise is needed to confront a health crisis.
And yet Laura Baer, Professor of Anthropology at LSEIQ,