coronavirus
Boris takes his colleagues for fools
Is Boris Johnson really deploying a ‘diversionary tactic’ in announcing vaccine passports on the day he has had to perform…
What’s the evidence for England’s vaccine passports?
The Prime Minister has just announced Plan B. Working from home has been all but mandated and large venues —…
Will the public take Plan B seriously?
After holding strong for two weeks, fears over the Omicron variant look set to change the government’s course on Covid…
Boris throws his staff under the bus
What possible lines of defence could the Prime Minister come up with after the leaking of footage showing his Downing…
Watch: No. 10 staff joking about Downing Street Christmas party
Downing Street have spent the week trying to play down reports of a secret No. 10 party last Christmas when the rest of…
Omicron: cause for hope?
It will be weeks before we know just how worried we should be about Omicron — but the first indications seem…
Unless Omicron changes everything, Covid is on the way out
There are good reasons to be concerned about the Omicron variant. For starters, this strain has 50 mutations, twice as…
Boris's booster bet
Boris Johnson is relying heavily on the booster programme to protect Britain from any additional threat posed by the Omicron…
The economic impact of the latest Covid restrictions
We don’t yet know whether the Omicron variant will drastically accelerate the spread of coronavirus, or whether it will circumvent…
The tyranny of Boris Johnson’s mask mandate
Today the government has said that for the next three weeks it will be mandatory to wear masks in shops…
Scotland's 70-page dossier finds no evidence for vaccine passports
Nicola Sturgeon wants to extend vaccine passports in Scotland, and today her government released a 70-page document purporting to show…
The vaccine cheer is gone
I am 45, which means I’ve now had my third Covid vaccine. The experience of getting that injection crystallises a…
Eighteen months of inflation is not 'transitory'
The big central banks have been insisting for months now that the rise in inflation is temporary, and will fade…
Portrait of the week: Queen stays home, Boris rubbishes recycling and pay freeze thaws
Home The Queen will not attend the COP26 meeting in Glasgow next week; she had resumed light duties after having…
Why lockdown sceptics like me lost the argument
I’m optimistic that the government won’t implement ‘Plan B’, let alone impose another lockdown — but not because sceptics like…
Why did we decide that Covid was over?
Look, I don’t know much epidemiology. Can’t pretend to. So what follows is, necessarily, a personal finger to the wind.…
No. 10 moves to kickstart the booster campaign
In a move that as important as any in the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Emily Lawson is returning to run the…
Wuhan clan: the price I paid for my lab leak exposé
The price I paid for my lab leak exposé
What are the Queen’s favourite tipples?
Drinks at the palace The Queen was reported to have given up regular drinking. What do we know about her…
Portrait of the week
Home Sir David Amess, aged 69, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death while taking a constituency…
Colin Powell: A great man – and a failure
My memory of Colin Powell feels personal, even though we were 6000 miles apart at the time. I was in…
Why Covid means the big state is back
History suggests that when the state expands in a crisis, it doesn’t go back to its pre-crisis level once the…
The real reason Britain failed on coronavirus
The joint health and science super-committee’s report into ‘lessons learned’ on the UK’s coronavirus response may not want to ‘point fingers…
‘I’m entitled not to listen to Sage’: an interview with Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid has big plans for the NHS – if Covid lets him
The case for dodging cracks in the pavement
It is interesting to consider what would have happened if the Covid virus had emerged in 1921. Or 1821. Or…
