coronavirus
Rush jab
Fast-tracking vaccines can be disastrous – even if they work
The best leader we never had
I spent Monday afternoon with The Wake Up Call, a new book by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge that lambasts…
The return of the Blob
For decades, Washington think tanks were vital to a virtuous revolving door. Young policy professionals, both Democrats and Republicans, would…
Europe’s ‘second wave’ has fizzled out
Has the Covid ‘second wave’ already run out of steam? On 9 July, just when Britain was reopening the hospitality…
The chilling treatment of Piers Corbyn
If you were looking for the archetype of a crank it would be Piers Corbyn. Rather like his long forgotten…
Nancy Pelosi’s bad hair day
Does Nancy Pelosi’s unfortunate trip to a hair salon have any news value? Or is it much a hairdo about…
The problem with fast-tracking vaccines
You have to admit it, Operation Warp Speed is a good moniker. It’s the name for the American interagency program,…
What is behind the increase of non-Covid related deaths?
The latest data on weekly deaths in England and Wales, published today by the Office of National Statistics, show what…
The real test for Starmer will come post-Covid
Labour is gearing up for its first big Commons clash since returning from recess this afternoon, with shadow education secretary…
The China election
Bill Clinton, in a speech heralding China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2000, remarked that ‘by joining the WTO,…
After Trump, the reckoning
As voters prepare to pass judgment on Donald Trump’s presidency in November, they might want to entertain a few counterfactuals.…
Germany’s far-right and the rise of the anti-corona protests
Germany has been in uproar over the events that unfolded this Saturday, when 38,000 protesters gathered in Berlin and clashed…
Commuter says yes
My train journey to work is bliss
Sink or swim
Is China’s virus strategy paying off?
Public disservice broadcasting
Reading the speech Tony Hall gave to the Edinburgh Television Festival, I was struck by his upbeat, confident tone. The…
Choice cuts
Covid has exposed our muddled thinking about food
The riddle of the virus
Our bodies’ defences work in ways we still don’t understand
Barometer
About Last Night It was suggested that the BBC might ‘decolonise’ the Last Night of the Proms by removing ‘Rule,…
Portrait of the Week
Home Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, made pupils wear face-coverings in school corridors. It didn’t take long for…
Who could replace Shinzo Abe as Japanese PM?
Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, has announced that he will step down, as soon as his replacement is selected.…
Children who died of Covid-19 were already seriously ill, new study shows
It has been clear from the start of the Covid-19 crisis – from Wuhan’s experience, before cases were confirmed in…
An off-the-shelf insect repellent could help kill Covid-19
Should we be spraying surfaces, and ourselves, with an off-the-shelf mosquito repellent to tackle the spread of Covid-19? The Ministry…
Donald Trump is still the greatest show on Earth
‘Keep America Great’ is President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election slogan and it sounds off. The phrase doesn’t have the same…
Will the next U-turn be on face masks at work?
There’s a new trend emerging when it comes to Covid-19 policy: where Scotland leads, England follows. In recent weeks, decisions…
Has this Brazilian city reached herd immunity without lockdown?
Throughout the Covid crisis, the international response to the disease has rested on a simple assumption: that none of us…
