The corona clampdown: are we just being silly over sniffles?
There has been a lot of confusion around COVID-19 statistics and what they means. The fundamental problem is that there…
Meet the Frenchman who has shaped the world’s response to coronavirus
Projecting the fight against Covid as a war on a virus – like the war on terror – tells us…
Should medics be hassling old people with ‘do not resuscitate’ forms?
A neighbour of ours, self-isolating and with poor lung function, has twice been telephoned recently by the medical authorities. After pleasant…
China must pay a diplomatic price for its cover-up
When it comes to China, Dominic Raab says: ‘We can’t have business as usual after this crisis’. Business as usual…
What the country needs most is Boris Johnson back at his desk
Boris Johnson has been out of action for almost a fortnight. His last meaningful act before going into hospital was…
How Bill Clinton junked America’s supremacy
‘This is a good day for America,’ said President Bill Clinton on May 24, the Year of Our Lord 2000.…
France’s citizens’ climate convention has come back to bite Macron
Those of us who are sceptical about the worth of citizens’ assemblies have been noting with interest the upshot of…
Alexander Downer and Russiagate: a bigger picture?
Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — this time in different words: Alexander Downer, the Fredo…
Kangaroo court
In his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King wrote: ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’ This has…
Brown study
I seem to be the only person in this country who is not cock-a-hoop about the lavish government package to…
Diary
What a difference a few months makes. At the close of last year, all the talk in the United Kingdom…
Corona notes
Heads Trump wins, tails CNN loses Remember back when that Imperial College in London modelling came out saying that this…
Geoffrey Blainey
He coined the phrase ‘tyranny of distance’ which not only entered the language but encapsulated the view that many Australians…
Women’s world
One of life’s perennial questions is what would the world look like if it was ruled by women. It’s an…
Sacrifice and resurrection
I cannot remember a prettier Easter, or a more frustrating one. This was no time to be in town. But…
Boxed wine
Picture the world before the invention of the bottle: if you wanted a nice glass of claret at home, you’d…
The communitarian Conservatives
Politics is full of events that are meant to change everything but actually do little. Yet the coronavirus crisis will…
