Leading article
The mask slips
When Michael Gove delivered the Ditchley Annual Lecture last month he spoke about why citizens feel that the political system…
Home improvements
It is hardly a profound observation to say that the government has not functioned as well as it might have…
The chilling effect
The printed press is not a natural ally of Facebook. Silicon Valley publishers have hoovered up so much advertising that…
Britain emerges, blinking
The Prime Minister’s announcement that pubs, restaurants and many other facilities will be able to re-open on 4 July amounts…
Time to recover
The discovery in Britain that a £5 steroid, dexamethasone, can be effective in treating Covid marks a potential breakthrough in…
Take back control
There is a grim inevitability to the trickle of round-robin letters from scientists who feel aggrieved at the government’s handling…
Law and disorder
In Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, a black entrepreneur had his bar destroyed before he even had a chance…
Has lockdown worked?
Who occupies the post of chief adviser to the prime minister is not generally an issue of great interest to…
Sage advice
From the outset of the Covid-19 crisis, the government was determined that scientists would play a central and highly visible…
Class divide
It would be a tragedy if one of the legacies of Covid-19 — a disease which hardly affects children physically…
On track and trace
The concept of the state tracking our every movement is anathema to this magazine and, we assume, to its liberal…
Call that care?
As the NHS was preparing for the Covid onslaught, thousands of hospital patients were discharged to care homes in an…
The case for trust
Our Plan is entirely new, comprising – 1. The whole News of the Week: selected, sifted, condensed and arranged as…
World Health Shambles
The United States has long regarded itself as better prepared for a pandemic than any other country in the world,…
The Boris Factor
Ending the lockdown will require a leap of faith – one that can really only be made by the PM
Testing times
The failures of Britain’s pandemic planning have been brutally exposed in the past few weeks. The scandalous lack of protective…
On liberty
For days, the Prime Minister had been resisting the kind of measures which have placed many other countries into lockdown,…
A common cure
For the Chancellor to produce an emergency bailout package just six days after delivering his Budget is an extraordinary state…
The debt virus
It’s always tempting for governments to respond to economic trouble with a debt-fuelled spending splurge, but it’s a notoriously blunt…
Civil unrest
Thirteen years ago, when John Reid became Home Secretary, he declared the ministry he presided over ‘not fit for purpose’.…
Trial and error
A cornerstone of any -functioning democracy is the separation of police and the courts on one hand, and government and…
Despite Brexit
After the vote for Brexit, it was often said that our departure from the EU was most likely to harm…
Borrowed time
The nature of the Johnson government is still not clear, but has become more so with the announcement this week…
Costing the Earth
After being sacked as the chairman of the COP26, the UN climate conference which is to take place in Glasgow…
A new ally
The moment of Britain’s departure from the EU was always likely to be an anticlimax, both for those who expect…
