The focus today was on preparations for the forthcoming funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh. The Archbishop of Canterbury told the BBC that the funeral would be a "profound" chance for the Queen to say farewell to her husband of 73 years and that he expected she would "behave with the extraordinary dignity, extraordinary courage that she always does." Mr Welby said many people had seen family members die in the Covid pandemic this year and the funeral service would "resonate very deeply for a lot of people". At 0900 I joined our regular virtual meeting with MP colleagues, senior officials and councillors from Dorset Council (DC). The news on the level of infection was good. For DC is was 16.3/100,000; BCP 10.6/100,000; England 27.4/100,000; and the SW 13.5/100,000. At last, we appear to have got to grips with this virus, and thankfully life is returning to normal. We can never lock the country down again; never. The meeting lasted an hour and gave me a chance to raise the question of the recent disturbances on the quay in Weymouth. Both the police and council have taken steps to hopefully prevent this from happening again. It is deeply depressing to see this minority of idiots ruining it for everyone else. I also reported back after my meeting with the Chancellor, who I'd lobbied to help DC qualify for a new levelling up fund with some £20 million. Mr Sunak was sympathetic to our case, which is that DC has found itself in the lowest category due to the fact it's become a unitary. I am hopeful that we can apply for these monies, along with other councils. Plenty more constituency work kept me busy until the evening.