High and dry
Does it matter that Debenhams and the Arcadia group have gone under this week, taking 25,000 jobs with them and…
Barometer
Dangerous games Sage scientists advised against playing board games at Christmas. Some games to consider if you are feeling subversive:Pandemic…
Comfort spending
Every country was blindsided by the pandemic; few governments responded to it by borrowing as much as Britain. The figures…
Barometer
Gloss over Should we be worried that the head of research into respiratory drugs at AstraZeneca is called Dr Pangalos,…
Portrait of the week
Home The AstraZeneca vaccine developed by the University of Oxford was found to be 70 per cent effective — 90…
to 2482: Perm all five
The unclued lights each contain all five vowels once only, but in different orders. First prize Dr Stephen Clarkson, Hadleigh,…
Letters
SNP sophistry Sir: Andrew Wilson (‘Scot free’, 21 November) poses the question: ‘What if the case for independence was a…
to 2481: Octet
The octet associated with CHERRY STONES (19) is: tinker (1A), tailor (40), soldier (20), sailor (15), rich man (6A), poor…
The wrong reset
The psychodrama in No. 10 is badly timed. The government has used emergency powers to ban meetings, church services and…
Letters
Still distant Sir: In James Forsyth’s analysis (‘Boris’s booster shot’, 14 November) he infers that a vaccine, if provided to…
Barometer
Boris and the butcher’s dog Who first coined the phrase ‘as fit as a butcher’s dog’? It has been traced…
Portrait of the week
Home Dominic Cummings, the chief adviser to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, left Downing Street after a week in which…
Letters
Cancelled procedures Sir: Your leader (‘A lockdown too far’, 7 November) suggests that the Prime Minister should have shown ‘leadership’…
Barometer
Shot in the arm Global stock markets reached a new high after pharmaceutical firm Pfizer announced a vaccine it is…
Solution to 2480: Warning
Ten symmetrically placed unclued lights are synonyms for the warning ‘WATCH OUT’. First prize Andy Wallace, Ash Green, CoventryRunners-upCaroline Arms,…
A deal to be done
It now looks increasingly likely that lockdown will end on 2 December, after all. The decision to impose further restrictions…
Portrait of the week
Home Pfizer and BioNTech announced a vaccine against Covid-19 of 90 per cent efficacy from two injections three weeks apart.…
Books of the year II
David Crane If nothing else, this has been a good time for catch-up. Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest (translated by Walter…
Solution to 2479: Shielded
The unclued lights are heraldic terms. First prize J.P. Carrington, Denchworth, OxfordshireRunners-up David Shields, Merthyr Vale M.E. Bosence, Bournemouth Got…
Letters
Woeful Wales Sir: Allison Pearson succinctly points out the absurdity of the so-called Welsh government and its assembly, now trying…
Portrait of the Week
Home The government imposed a lockdown on England to last until 2 December. On television, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister,…
A lockdown too far
The benefit of having a lockdown announced some days in advance is the ability to savour what is about to…
Barometer
The start of lockdown The earliest known use of ‘lockdown’ in its current sense was in a 1973 story in…
Books of the year I
Reviewers choose the books they have most enjoyed in 2020 – and a few that have disappointed them
Solution to 2478: Namesakes
The lyrics of the perimetric I’M POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN and FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN were written by Sammy Lerner,…
