The British state needs rewiring
‘Covid-19 has been perhaps the biggest test of governments worldwide since the 1940s,’ declares the government’s command paper on the…
Pinch and a punch
The National’s bizarre livestreaming service continues. On 7 May, for one week only, it released a modern-dress version of Antony…
Barometer
Safety first The government was criticised for its new coronavirus slogan, ‘Stay alert’. What are the most common safety slogans…
Human soup
The earliest depictions of the Americas were eye-popping, and shaped European art, says Laura Gascoigne
Roman pop-up hospitals
The speed with which ‘model’ Nightingale hospitals have been designed and erected across the UK reminds one of the experts…
Selfie
In Competition No. 3148 you were asked to imagine what the result might have been had a well-known writer slipped…
Diary
Entering my 54th day of quarantine, I recall how much I was looking forward to this spring in England. There…
2457: Beginning
Unclued lights (including one of two words) suggest a section of a sequence whose final member will appear in the…
Portrait of the Week
Home The government changed its slogan from ‘Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives’ to ‘Stay alert, control the virus,…
Online Nations Cup
Fifty years ago, the USSR faced a ‘Rest of the World’ team in a match in Belgrade, with the likes…
Class divide
It would be a tragedy if one of the legacies of Covid-19 — a disease which hardly affects children physically…
The Heckler: Why does anyone still rate Vertigo?
Here’s something that may interest you. Or not. (Could go either way.) I was looking over Sight & Sound’s ‘100…
You’re not special – just ask Google
My research assistant, John Steele, is also a songwriter. A friend emailed him with the lyrics of a Fleetwood Mac…
The Turf
There is racing elsewhere in the world. It restarted in France on Monday, la course de chevaux being classed in…
Do you believe Tara Reade?
Without a doubt, women who level sexual assault allegations against powerful men are often subjected to character assassination and smears.…
Inside Boris Johnson’s video call with Tory MPs
One of the consequences of the virtual parliament is fewer opportunities for MPs to lobby No. 10. However, this afternoon…
Misgendering is the real COVID crisis
If it’s true that coronavirus is less likely to kill people with high levels of testosterone, Dr Rachel Levine —…
Boris’s war on obesity is a mistake
In less enlightened times, an outbreak of a deadly virus was taken as a sign of God’s displeasure and would…
Is a summer without cricket truly summer at all?
Isuppose most of us have a hole or two in our lives right now. This is a time of absence;…
France’s bid to tame the German giant
Why does president Macron want European debt mutualisation? Why has France become the spokesman for the ‘southern states’ on a…
The chasm between the UK and EU’s Brexit positions
David Frost briefed the Cabinet yesterday on the state of the Brexit negotiations and he has now issued a very…
Could having a cold protect against Covid?
Could having a common cold protect you against Covid-19? The intriguing prospect has been raised by a team from the…
Britain must back Australia in its fight against China
China is a bully and the sooner the West understands that, the sooner we can begin to push back. Beijing…
How the Labour party ran out of ideas
After losing the leadership contest in April, the left of the Labour Party regrouped. Organising as part of old factions…
