coronavirus
How to spot a cultist
There’s something creepy about the way we call Donald Trump fans a cult, then watch them hungrily, hoping they’ll do…
How effective has the Covid vaccine been in Israel?
The world’s eyes are on Israel at the moment, as the country continues its phenomenally fast roll-out of the Pfizer…
A shot at success
The vaccine has arrived at just the right time for the Israeli PM
Portrait of the week
Home The government, in the face of overwhelming numbers of people with Covid-19 being admitted to hospital, told everyone to…
What have we learnt?
So great have been the government’s failures over Covid that it would be easy to forget to give credit where…
Diary
Real men are not supposed to confess to feeling fear. But I am frightened, second time round, about the plague.…
Pig in the middle
It’s the Portuguese piglet you feel really sorry for. The diminutive (ready cooked) porker — a festive delicacy all over…
Dear Mary
Your problems solved
The Spectator’s Notes
Domenica Lawson, daughter of Rosa and Dominic, the former editor of this paper, has Down’s syndrome. She is classified as…
Portrait of the Week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced harsher coronavirus restrictions in England, resembling those last March, except that bubbles continued.…
A race against time
Can the vaccine outpace the virus?
Why 2021 could be the year of economic Armageddon
The British economy is wrapped in bandages – we won’t know whether the wound has scabbed or turned septic until…
Does anyone care about the middle class?
The American middle class is in a precarious position. After decades of decline — the percentage of Americans in the…
Let’s bust some vaccine myths
Today is a great day for all of us. The licensing of the ChAdOx vaccine will mean a step change…
Could 30 per cent of Brits have some Covid immunity?
How big is the job of vaccination? The aim is herd immunity, to protect enough people so that the virus…
Hot shots
Why mRNA vaccines could revolutionise medicine
Portrait of the Year
January Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, signed the EU withdrawal agreement, sent from Brussels by train. Sajid Javid, the Chancellor…
My cure for the common cold
You really don’t want to know about my coughs and sneezes, particularly during the festive season, but bear with me…
Letters
Joy Sir: Alexandra Coghlan identifies the coincidence between the rise of recording and broadcast technology and the flourishing of the…
Word of the year
In 2015 smombie became the Youth Word of the Year in Germany. In January 2016 a survey found that 92…
Ring out, wild bells
Save for those old enough to have lived through the second world war and its immediate austere aftermath, it would…
What Covid revealed
The most significant and lasting change brought about by Covid is that it has woken the West up to the…
‘We won’t have zero Covid’
A scientific debate about the virus
Bride’s Notebook
I had a lockdown wedding. A 30-person, socially-distanced, sanitised church service was organised in under two weeks. Restrictions meant no…
Diary
Among the greatest bores right now are those friends who insist on telling you, usually as if it’s some kind…
