Columns

What will life look like after 21 June?

27 February 2021 9:00 am

‘Alas’ is a word used many times by Boris Johnson during the pandemic. It is how he prefaces announcements that…

Where will vaccine passports take us?

20 February 2021 9:00 am

Desperate to find someone to commemorate with a statue for having done great things, but who isn’t a white male,…

The case for immunity passports

20 February 2021 9:00 am

For more than 20 years, I’ve been raging away at pointless rules. When my blood’s up, there’s not a foam-flecked…

Will freedom always be just over the horizon?

20 February 2021 9:00 am

We should talk about horizons, and the setting of desirable ones. A newspaper gave it a go the other day…

It is time to make friends with the EU

20 February 2021 9:00 am

On Monday morning, Clément Beaune, Emmanuel Macron’s Europe Minister, clipped out the section of his media interview criticising Britain’s vaccination…

I’m living in a country that won’t let me out

13 February 2021 9:00 am

Anyone who’s been through customs Down Under isn’t surprised by the region’s OTT response to Covid. Having been X-rayed before…

Facts are now history

13 February 2021 9:00 am

Your quiz for the week is to make the connection between the following people: fun-loving Greek hack Homer, veteran US…

The Northern Ireland protocol problem

13 February 2021 9:00 am

Ursula von der Leyen now admits that she overreacted in the EU’s vaccine row with the UK. She has spoken…

The sticky truth about Navalny

13 February 2021 9:00 am

His courage is exhilarating. Even if you think his cause hopeless, Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader and Putin-baiter, deserves…

The importance of daydreams

6 February 2021 9:00 am

I miss daydreaming. It’s a small problem to have in a pandemic, but it nags at me. Laptop, cooker, home-school,…

The disconnect of Davos Man

6 February 2021 9:00 am

You may have missed Ursula von der Leyen’s big speech at Davos last week. Most people did. Perhaps because Davos…

What if Covid had struck in the 1970s?

6 February 2021 9:00 am

We have reached Covid-19’s first anniversary in the UK — and I really think we should do something fitting to…

Vaccine success is a boost for Boris – and the Union

6 February 2021 9:00 am

Imagine for a minute what British politics would be like without a Covid vaccine. The cabinet would be deeply, and…

For Democrats, the Capitol assault was the gift that keeps on giving

30 January 2021 9:00 am

As events recede, they change. When Donald Trump’s unhinged endgame culminated in a popular assault on the Capitol, most Americans…

‘Inessential’ workers have helped keep the country afloat

30 January 2021 9:00 am

A common sight across Britain these past ten months has been those rainbow flags fluttering in urban and village streets:…

The big tech bullies

30 January 2021 9:00 am

I was in the kitchen preparing the family’s dinner when the inauguration of Joe Biden was on TV, so I…

What’s next for the Special Relationship?

30 January 2021 9:00 am

This is a crucial year for the UK’s two most important relationships. The Anglo-American alliance, our strongest diplomatic and security…

What makes us think they’ll release lockdown after vaccines?

23 January 2021 9:00 am

Has the coup happened yet? You have the advantage over me. It was supposed to have taken place on Sunday.…

Could the Australian approach to Covid work in Britain?

23 January 2021 9:00 am

The government’s most important economic policy is its vaccination programme. The speed at which people are immunised will determine when…

Where will the American right turn now?

23 January 2021 9:00 am

Here’s a trick question: who said the following, and when? ‘Serious questions have arisen about the accuracy and reliability of…

How cults crumble

23 January 2021 9:00 am

There’s something creepy about the way we call Donald Trump fans a cult, then watch them hungrily, hoping they’ll do…

We’re starting to see a new foreign policy for Brexit Britain

16 January 2021 9:00 am

What will Brexit Britain do differently? This is going to be the most important question in our politics for the…

Who volunteers to be lectured by children?

16 January 2021 9:00 am

The screenwriter Russell T. Davies has said that only gay actors should be cast in gay parts, believing this leads…

Mandelson’s story could have been so very different

16 January 2021 9:00 am

Matt Forde, the stand-up comedian and presenter of his regular Political Party Podcast, has hit on an overlooked technique for…

From Trumpism to lockdown, people believe in the craziest things

16 January 2021 9:00 am

Following his disgruntled supporters’ rampage through the Capitol, Donald Trump’s fate hangs in the balance. But one artefact of this…