coronavirus
Covid deaths in context
What would have been your overall chances of dying in the first 19 weeks of 2021 compared with recent years?…
What will Cummings say?
As the government puts the final touches to its social distancing review and Foreign Office ministers ponder the best response…
Why I’m considering cancelling my second Covid jab
Why I’m considering cancelling my second Covid jab
Can Boris’s roadmap survive the Indian variant?
The roadmap out of lockdown is the signature document of Boris Johnson’s new team in No. 10. It’s intended to…
Why Britain must unlock on 21 June
The scare over the Indian variant of coronavirus this week is a taste of what to expect over the next…
Portrait of the week: Indian variant goes up, Santander goes down and pubs reopen
Home The government made noises about having to delay the lifting of coronavirus restrictions on 21 June in some parts…
Inflation is the biggest threat to Boris
The vaccines are rolling out. Lockdown is easing, the EU has been forgotten about, and the Labour party has returned…
The pandemic’s transatlantic divide in executive salaries
‘Consider a temporary cut in executive salaries’ was the Confederation of British Industry’s advice to members at the start of…
Portrait of the week: Scotland votes, Queen speaks and Israel-Palestine crisis escalates
Home A new complexion of British politics was revealed by the capture of Hartlepool by Jill Mortimer for the Conservatives…
‘This was a horrible pandemic – but it wasn’t the big one’: Michael Lewis interviewed
Michael Lewis on the scientists who saw Covid coming – and were ignored
Can Boris keep his roadmap on track?
Boris Johnson’s favourite phrase since he released his roadmap out of lockdown has been ‘cautious but irreversible’. These are the…
Could the Indian variant slow unlocking?
So is the ‘irreversible’ lifting of lockdown really irreversible after all? There is a grim echo of what happened last…
Were fears of a third wave overblown?
So, the third wave is officially no more. New modelling by SPI-M, the government’s committee on modelling for pandemics, has,…
The problem with Britain’s mental health
Experts tell us that we are facing a mental health ‘time bomb’ in the UK, partly as a consequence of…
What should we put in our time capsule of the plague year?
What to include in a memory box of the plague year?
The China model: why is the West imitating Beijing?
From spending to lockdown, the West is copying Beijing
Portrait of the week: Covid retreats, raves resume and a £165,000 squid
Home ‘I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre-plus from 21 June,’…
Data, not dates: there is no reason to delay a return to normal life
A slogan can come back to haunt you. For Boris Johnson, the words ‘data not dates’ sounded powerful at a…
How the West can help India
Why India is reluctant to lock down again
Does the UK's 'green list' for travel make sense?
International travel is back on the menu, in theory. From 17 May the ‘stay in the UK’ restrictions are lifting…
The 'Covid deaths' which are not caused by Covid
Registered Covid deaths fell to just one on Monday, leading many to comment that the epidemic in Britain is effectively…
Why we should worry about the post-Covid exodus of older workers
Concerns around unemployment during the pandemic have, understandably, been focused on younger people. Last year it was under-24 year olds…
In India, the Covid crisis has left us helpless and broken
We’re running out of beds, oxygen, medicines – and hope
Hospital wards are filling up again – with fakers
As Covid retreats, the malingerers are making a comeback
Am I really paying £3,000 for six days in Wales?
Has it ever been more difficult to plan a family holiday? At the time of writing, it is illegal to…