lockdown
Ten lessons we've learned from the lockdown so far
Yep, the end is in sight, courtesy of other countries organising the practicalities for the return to some sort of…
Our impatience will end the lockdown
At the farm shop this morning there was a chap panic-buying a large metal and plaster flamingo. It was the…
We don’t have lockdown in Surrey
The man was unloading cycles from the boot of his car just as I was about to take the turning…
Real problems erase fake ones
Last week, a friend quoted a two-year-old email of mine: ‘I’m starting to root for a plague or world war…
The case for trusting the public is stronger than ever
Our Plan is entirely new, comprising – 1. The whole News of the Week: selected, sifted, condensed and arranged as…
Felt longer than the lockdown itself: BBC1's One World – Together At Home reviewed
You have to admire the spirit of the organisers of last weekend’s One World: Together at Home concert. To put…
Ian McEwan: The strange vocabulary of coronavirus
The vocabulary of Brexit has passed into oblivion. Now there’s fresh work to be done. We all know about ‘flattening…
Getting coronavirus does not bring clarity
I had thought that actually getting the coronavirus would bring clarity — that there would be some satisfaction in meeting…
Why Joe Biden’s America loves a lockdown
COVID-19, the Wuhan virus, is an epidemiological scourge — but it’s also a clarifying catalyst for American politics. The virus’s…
The lie of the land: we’re not all in this together
We’re not all in this together
Reflections on isolation: the first lockdown dramas reviewed
High Tide got there first. The East Anglian theatre company has produced a series of lockdown mini-dramas, Love in the…
Domestic abuse sufferers are the hidden victims of lockdown
Domestic abuse sufferers are the hidden victims of lockdown
A lesson in survival from pre-21st century Marks & Spencer
When I wrote last week about business-to-business pain-sharing for survival, I was naturally thinking first about UK companies. I say…
How to scale a mountain without leaving home
How to scale a mountain without leaving home
The keys to ending lockdown – introverts and brown M&M’s
Once we’ve flattened the curve of infection with mass self-isolation, the next debate will concern how to soften the restrictions…
Dear Mary: How do I get out of bossy chain emails?
Q. Each day while working from home, I have at least one hour-long meeting via Zoom. One of my colleagues…
The joy of short stories in these taxing times
From time to time, usually when things are quiet, the government brings on the dancing girls. David Cameron made Carol…
A first-hand account of a racehorse trainer’s battle for survival
Sport may well be ‘the great triviality’ as Timeform founder Phil Bull once put it, and racing as trivial as…
Why I joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses
The toad who lives at the bottom of the garden in the pile of bricks beneath the potting table was…
The British have bought the lockdown hook, line and sinker
I am a type. I don’t like groups. I maintain few memberships. I question and resist authority, especially enforcement of…
Coronavirus lockdowns are cowardice
This is a piece about death. Obviously death is a serious topic, perhaps as serious as anything you could possibly…
Five measures that could prevent future lockdowns
That the World Health Organisation hasn’t exactly shone in the coronavirus crisis is now well-documented. It should remind us of…
Leaked US document suggests Covid may be less lethal but more widespread
Have we been vastly underestimating the number of people who have been infected with Covid-19 and correspondingly overestimating its mortality? No…
Understanding Covid needs open minds – and vigorous debate
After a career as a scientist and clinical academic, I have been struck by how often they (we!) have very…
The online museums you’ll never want to leave
‘We don’t talk about the war.’ Yet those of my generation and older reference it daily. The coronavirus is an…
