coronavirus
Sink or swim: China’s ‘zero Covid’ strategy
Is China’s virus strategy paying off?
The BBC’s future is hanging by a thread
Reading the speech Tony Hall gave to the Edinburgh Television Festival, I was struck by his upbeat, confident tone. The…
Covid has exposed our confusion about food
Covid has exposed our muddled thinking about food
The coronavirus immunity riddle
Our bodies’ defences work in ways we still don’t understand
The BBC tradition of trying to remove patriotic songs from Last Night
About Last Night It was suggested that the BBC might ‘decolonise’ the Last Night of the Proms by removing ‘Rule,…
Portrait of the week: BBC drops songs, museum drops Sloane, and KFC and John Lewis drop slogans
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…
Make America Normal Again
To win in November, Trump should seek inspiration from President Alexander Lukashenko, the 65-year-old autocrat who has ruled Belarus since…
What percent of Covid deaths were directly from Covid?
Just how many people have died of Covid-19, as opposed to having died with the virus? It is a poignant…
Why isn’t Joe Biden being tested for COVID-19?
Joe Biden has faced questions on his mental and physical acuity throughout his presidential bid. For example, he first said…
The joy of an illegal rave
Every time I read that Britain’s anti-coronavirus measures are being jeopardised by a ‘small minority of senseless individuals’ holding illegal…
Joan Collins: my face mask fight with the gendarmerie
It’s three days since rumours swirled around France that President Macron was going to impose a ‘tit-for-tat’ quarantine on UK…
China disappears at the DNC
Members of media hailed the all-digital Democratic National Convention and convention coordinator Stephanie Cutter, the former Obama adviser famous for…
In many ways, Andrew Cuomo is just a metaphor
With the United States lurching from crisis to crisis, the Democrats want their convention to present them as the tough,…
Portrait of the week: Employment falls, exam failures and a roundabout rigmarole
Home In fine weather with calm seas, 565 migrants in four days crossed the Channel in small craft. French officials…
Looking at Barnett Freedman makes me weep at the government's dismal graphics
Among the spoils of a lockdown clear-out was a box of my grandmother’s books: Woolf, Austen, Mitford and The Complete…
I’ve started a dating site for lockdown sceptics
I started a dating site last Sunday. Not words I ever thought I’d write, but I’ve become a kind of…
How hot does a ‘heatwave’ have to be?
Some like it hot Are heatwaves becoming a devalued currency? Last year the Met Office defined a heatwave as three…
In the race to recovery, Britain is losing
Britain is losing the race to recovery
The New Normal Festival shows how theatre could return
So the madness continues. Planes full of passengers are going everywhere. Theatres full of ghosts are going bust. My first…
