Barometer
Barometer
Shot in the arm Global stock markets reached a new high after pharmaceutical firm Pfizer announced a vaccine it is…
Barometer
The start of lockdown The earliest known use of ‘lockdown’ in its current sense was in a 1973 story in…
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The Moon under water Nasa scientists using spectrometers claim to have found good evidence of water on the surface of…
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Special Offa A regulation passed by the Welsh government to prevent people travelling from Covid hotspots in England has brought…
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Red light, green light The three tiers of Covid restrictions have been described as a ‘traffic light’ system. — The…
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Vice squad Donald Trump catching Covid-19 has concentrated minds on what happens if a US president dies in office. Normally,…
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Word for word US presidential debates are often traced back to the first televised debate, between Richard Nixon and John…
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It’s electrifying! Who invented the circuit-breaker? Thomas Edison patented it in 1879, realising what damage could be caused to electrical…
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Information overload The government’s plan to put ‘Covid wardens’ on the streets to enforce the new rule against more than…
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Lyrical errors ‘Rule, Britannia!’ begins with the lines: ‘When Britain first, at heaven’s command/Arose from out the azure main.’ —…
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Culture clashes The pop star Adele was accused of ‘cultural appropriation’ for adopting a Jamaican hairstyle for the online Notting…
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About Last Night It was suggested that the BBC might ‘decolonise’ the Last Night of the Proms by removing ‘Rule,…
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Pink and twisted Bernard Matthews, which stopped making Turkey Twizzlers in 2005 after criticism about unhealthy school dinners from Jamie…
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Some like it hot Are heatwaves becoming a devalued currency? Last year the Met Office defined a heatwave as three…
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The other Argos The Argos catalogue, known as the ‘Book of Dreams’, is no longer to appear in printed form.…
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The first nanny state The Prime Minister’s strategy on obesity has been labelled a work of the ‘nanny state’ —…
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Worth a shot? How worried should we be about people refusing to have a Covid-19 vaccine if one is developed?…
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Take cover The government has said it will make wearing masks compulsory in shops. Mandatory masks rather run against the…
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Price of protest Greenpeace was fined £80,000 for defying a court order and occupying an oil rig in the North…
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Leicester lockdowns Leicester was forced to impose the first local lockdown, in response to a reported surge in cases of…
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Voyage into history How did the Labour government respond to the arrival of the Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948?…
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Made to measure The government started reviewing whether we should stay two metres apart while social distancing or whether one…
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The Colston chronicles Who, exactly, was Sir Edward Colston? Colston was born into a family of merchants and spent the…
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Covid deaths Has Covid-19 evolved to become less deadly? — Global infections reached a new peak on 29 May, with…
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Site test What’s on offer in the town of Barnard Castle? — Ruined 12th-century castle perched high above the Tees,…
