Portrait of the Week
Home The target was achieved of vaccinating, by the middle of February, about 15 million people of 70 or over,…
On life and liberty
When the Prime Minister sets out his ‘roadmap’ for easing Covid restrictions on Monday, it will be against a backdrop…
Rebuilding welfare
Amid the many failures of public policy during the Covid crisis, one success has gone largely unnoticed. The Universal Credit…
Barometer
Temper, temper A Zoom video of a disruptive parish council meeting in Handforth, Cheshire, went viral. It is not the…
Solution to 2490: Arrangement
Suggested by 30 (IKEBANA, or flower arranging), the unclued lights were all anagrams of flowers: 1A gardenia; 18 rose; 22…
Portrait of the week
Home On Sunday 7 February, as the week began, 11,465,210 people in the United Kingdom had received a first vaccination…
Letters
Save on bishops Sir: The Church of England is once again missing the point if its financial crisis will result…
to 2489: Fade away
All the unclued lights can be linked with PETER, 35/38 is the paired solution. First prize Gerry Fairweather, Layer Marney,…
Barometer
Best before The government plans to introduce labels on domestic appliances informing consumers how long they are likely to last.…
Letters
Good conductors Sir: Yes, it is sad to see talents like Sir Simon Rattle and Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla leaving our shores…
The Scottish play
Scottish politics tends to go through long bouts of single-party dominance. In the 19th century, the Liberals were in charge.…
Portrait of the week
Home About 80,000 people in eight places in Surrey, London, Kent, Hertfordshire, Southport and Walsall were asked in door-to-door visits…
Portrait of the week
Home Supplies of the Pfizer vaccine (made in Belgium) were feared to be at risk from a declaration by the…
Barometer
New normal Why have so many people started saying ‘normalcy’ rather than ‘normality’? — Normalcy has been traced back to…
to 2488: Clueless
Unclued lights were games played in I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue: SOUND CHARADES, SWANEE KAZOO, CHEDDAR GORGE, PICK UP…
Letters
Canterbury tales Sir: Having opened my copy of The Spectator upon arrival in the post, I read your article ‘Welby’s…
The freedom paradox
Who would have thought, this time last year, that the British government would be planning to detain British nationals at…
Barometer
Bad service Economic growth fell by 2.6% in November, the month of the second lockdown, compared with falls of 7.3%…
Letters
Paradise lost Sir: After reading Jonathan Beswick (‘Critical mass’, 16 January) I am writing to express the shame I feel…
Portrait of the week
Home The government undertook to offer a first dose of vaccine to the adult population of the UK by September.…
Christmas crossword solution
The winners The first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of Word Perfect by Susie…
A lost generation
At the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Chris Whitty often made the point that a pandemic kills in two ways:…
The right balance
When lockdown was first proposed in March, one of the many arguments against it was that people would tolerate being…
to 2487: Birthday boys
December 12th was the birthday of Gustave FLAUBERT (1D) and Frank SINATRA (15). Examples of their work are MADAME BOVARY…
Letters
Lockdown damage Sir: I am sick and tired of people taking the moral high ground and looking down on ‘lockdown…
