Portrait of the week

Portrait of the week: Boris’s shambolic CBI speech, more Covid protests and Kyle Rittenhouse is cleared

27 November 2021 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, praised Peppa Pig in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry: ‘Who would’ve…

Portrait of the week: a Liverpool terror attack, the end of COP26 and the Belarus migrant crisis

20 November 2021 9:00 am

Home The UK terror threat level was raised to severe after a taxi exploded and burst into flames just before…

Portrait of the week: Tory sleaze, NHS jabs and Elon Musk’s shares

13 November 2021 9:00 am

Home NHS staff in England will have to be fully vaccinated against Covid by the spring. Britain had ordered 250,000…

Portrait of the week: Fishing friction, Greta’s singalong and terror in Tokyo

6 November 2021 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told delegates to the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework…

Portrait of the week: Queen stays home, Boris rubbishes recycling and pay freeze thaws

30 October 2021 9:00 am

Home The Queen will not attend the COP26 meeting in Glasgow next week; she had resumed light duties after having…

Portrait of the week

23 October 2021 9:00 am

Home Sir David Amess, aged 69, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death while taking a constituency…

Portrait of the week: power failures, toy shortages and Boris’s Marbella mountain villa

16 October 2021 9:00 am

Home In an extraordinary wrangle between government departments, the Treasury accused Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, of ‘making things up’…

Portrait of the week: Facebook’s blackout, California’s oil spill and Rishi’s kitchen sink

9 October 2021 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said he did not think Britain was in a crisis; he wanted it to…

Portrait of the week: Petrol panic, Labour’s meltdown and China’s crypto crackdown

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Home The crisis of the week was a shortage of fuel at garages. ‘There is no need for people to…

Portrait of the week: Gas prices soar, cabinet reshuffled and a green light for travel

25 September 2021 9:00 am

Home To prevent a shortage of meat, which relies on carbon dioxide in its packaging, the government gave millions of…

Portrait of the week: Boosters, Emma Raducanu and the Taliban’s new rules

18 September 2021 9:00 am

Home The government decided to offer booster vaccinations to those over 50. Children aged 12 to 15 would be offered…

Portrait of the week: Tax rises, Tube gets busier and Taliban names its government

11 September 2021 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced a new tax in the Commons branded a ‘health and social care levy’.…

Portrait of the week: Britain leaves Afghanistan, hurricane hits New Orleans and Gove goes clubbing

4 September 2021 9:00 am

Home Britain brought its last troops home from Afghanistan, having flown out more than 15,000 people since 14 August; but…

Portrait of the week: the chaotic evacuation from Kabul

28 August 2021 9:00 am

Home At the virtual G7 emergency summit that he was chairing, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, urged President Joe Biden…

Portrait of the week: the Taliban take Afghanistan

21 August 2021 9:00 am

Home Parliament was recalled after the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, returned from…

Portrait of the week: Cameron’s cash, A-grades abound and Tower Bridge won’t budge

14 August 2021 9:00 am

Home With less frightening domestic data on the coronavirus pandemic to ponder, subjects such as the rivalry between Boris Johnson,…

Portrait of the week: Vouchers for vaccines, cases rise in China and a Christmas baby for Boris and Carrie

7 August 2021 9:00 am

Home After the number of people ‘pinged’ (alerted by an NHS Covid-19 app) neared 700,000, the app was adjusted so…

Portrait of the week: Channel crossings, chain-gangs for criminals and Tesco Bank shuts up shop

31 July 2021 9:00 am

Home The daily number of coronavirus cases detected by tests fell from 54,674 on 17 July to 23,511 by 27…

Portrait of the week: Covid in cabinet, pingdemic pandemonium and Ben & Jerry’s boycott

24 July 2021 9:00 am

Home On the eve of the day that most coronavirus restrictions were to be lifted, the Prime Minister and Chancellor…

Portrait of the week: Mixed messages on masks, protests in Cuba and good news for pandas

17 July 2021 9:00 am

Home England expects everyone to wear masks in crowded places, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said in a televised address,…

Portrait of the week: Masks to be dropped, John Lewis builds houses and Russia lays claim to champagne

10 July 2021 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said that if a review of coronavirus restrictions on 12 July allowed, then on…

Portrait of the week: Hancock out, Javid in and MoD papers found at a bus stop

3 July 2021 9:00 am

Home A lively game of hunt the issue followed the resignation of Matt Hancock as Secretary of State for Health…

Portrait of the week: A bombshell by-election, Scotland bans Mancunians and China staffs its space station

26 June 2021 9:00 am

Home The government contemplated its promised Planning Bill, blamed for contributing to the astonishing victory for the Liberal Democrat Sarah…

Portrait of the week: Freedom off, GB News on and the Queen’s tea with Biden

19 June 2021 9:00 am

Home The lifting of coronavirus restrictions was delayed from 21 June until 19 July, probably. The motive was to avoid…

Portrait of the week: Pub staff shortages, a baby called Lilibet and a slap in the face for Macron

12 June 2021 9:00 am

Home The government pondered delaying the end of coronavirus restrictions on 21 June. But Chris Hopson, the chief executive of…