coronavirus
On track and trace
The concept of the state tracking our every movement is anathema to this magazine and, we assume, to its liberal…
Emperor Ferguson has no clothes
I originally had Neil Ferguson down as a kind of Henry Kissinger figure. The professor of mathematical biology at Imperial…
Nothing routine
Autism and lockdown are a challenging mix
The Spectator’s notes
Mathias Döpfner is that still rare thing — an outspoken German. I have known him slightly for many years and…
Barometer
Admitting defeat 8 May is celebrated as VE Day, but it is also a date which marks a significant English…
Portrait of the Week
Home The government put its mind to the puzzle of how to get people back to work. Draft advice was…
Cracking the code
There’s no such thing as ‘the science’ – but facts are emerging from the Covid fog
Lullabies and lockdown
I laughed when my Spanish midwife mentioned in passing that in Latin American countries they have a custom for new…
The coronavirus catalyst
‘The normal grease of politics is not there,’ bemoans one sociable cabinet minister. Certainly, the whispered conversations in corridors that…
Dying art
There’s nothing morbid about writing obituaries
Viral contagion
The uncontainable spread of fake coronavirus news
Ten reasons to end the lockdown now
Writing in this magazine a month ago, I applauded the government’s stated aim of trying to follow the science in…
Boris Johnson should be wary of comparisons with Churchill
Despite his carefully-crafted bumbling image, Boris Johnson is anything but daft. When vying to replace the apparently rootless Tory moderniser…
Doctor rebuts NYT hit piece about Kushner’s coronavirus efforts
The doctor at the center of a New York Times story alleging Jared Kushner bungled the administration’s attempts to procure…
Get ready for the corona coup
House Democrats, flummoxed by their failed attempt to remove President Trump earlier this year, are gearing up for another round…
Can we rely on a V-shaped recovery?
Can the UK expect a V-shape recovery? The Bank of England has this morning published data revealing very deep V,…
Does COVID-19 mean socialism or social collapse?
Inequality is the price we pay for civilization. Property rights, inheritance customs and unequal gains from technological innovation have long…
Will churches open their doors as lockdown eases?
The grumbling of high church clergy should now lessen a bit. They were complaining, in some cases furiously, about the…
Is it ‘speculation’ to say the UK has the most deaths in Europe?
It’s a grim news week for the government with Dominic Raab announcing in Tuesday’s press conference that the UK coronavirus death toll…
Does lockdown really decrease Covid deaths?
It has become clear that a hard lockdown does not protect old and frail people living in care homes –…
The 2020 question: which candidate will stand up to China?
Imagine you are in your late thirties living in Ohio working at a steel or other manufacturing plant in the…
Neil Ferguson’s remarkable fall from grace
I originally had Neil Ferguson down as a kind of Henry Kissinger figure. The professor of mathematical biology at Imperial…
Lockdown is over. Someone tell the government
The coronavirus shutdown is over by public demand. There are crowds of sunbathers in the parks of New York City…
A German court has plunged the eurozone into fresh crisis
An epidemic has been raging across the continent. The economy is in lockdown, and GDP is in freefall. But, hey,…
Covid statistics are just politics by other means
Statistics is the continuation of politics by other means, to misquote Clausewitz. One hundred and fifty years after the crushing…
