covid
Did Brexit lead to the UK’s vaccine success?
Today the United Kingdom became the first country in the West to clinically authorise a vaccine protecting against Covid-19, after…
Why I can no longer police the coronavirus restrictions
Earlier this month I resigned as a Special Constable, after serving for ten years as a volunteer officer in three…
Was Covid beginning to peak before the second lockdown?
‘I don’t think that word means what you think it means,’ says the Spaniard Inigo Montoya in the film The…
My neighbour’s dinner party was a near-death experience
At dawn, starving, I drove to a commercial laboratory in the town centre where five phials of blood were taken…
Landmark Danish study shows face masks have no significant effect
Do face masks work? Earlier this year, the UK government decided that masks could play a significant role in stopping…
The Beeb could turn this script into TV gold: Howerd's End reviewed
It’s touch and go whether the theatre will survive this latest assault. Some venues have pushed back their entire programme…
Finally a lockdown drama that will endure: James Graham's Bubble reviewed
Theatres can open if they want to. That’s the current position. The only factor keeping a playhouse dark is a…
Dear Mary: Why is my brother making me pay £400 for a drawing of my cat?
Q. I would welcome your advice on a tricky family matter. For my 70th birthday earlier this year my brother…
Will Spain’s nation of rogues comply with the curfew?
A few years ago, when I was in the queue to catch a plane, a Spanish lady caught me watching…
The joy of drinking alone
Thanks to a combination of night-time curfews, social-distancing rules, pubs closing, restaurants failing, the ‘rule of six’ and compulsory mask-wearing,…
Portrait of the week: A Manchester stand-off, a Presidential showdown and a Brexit culture clash
Home After ten days spent trying to persuade Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, to accede to the city…
Letters: why Scots want independence
State of the Union Sir: Writing in a week that an opinion poll shows 58 per cent support for independence…
Britain’s bizarre Italian travel guidance
Here’s a tip. When the Foreign Office advises against going somewhere, hop on the next plane. The mandarins have advised…
Boris Johnson needs to face down his own people
To beat the virus, the government is asking us to keep to simple hands-face-space guidelines. When these are not followed,…
London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody
London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody
Dear Mary: We’ve had to downsize our wedding – can we still ask everyone for presents?
Q. A year ago we sent out 150 save-the-date notices for our wedding this December. We are still going ahead,…
Why we should consider testing Covid on prisoners
The Covid problem lies as much in the delayed action of the virus as in the virus itself. Since symptoms…
Students who catch Covid may be saving lives
Students who catch Covid may be saving lives by building up immunity
Covid has killed off our civil liberties
It started with smoking. The 1960s and 1970s saw little popular objection to legislation restricting advertisements by private companies purveying…
Why isn’t the germaphobe President afraid of coronavirus?
The weird thing about Donald Trump’s handling of Covid-19, alongside all the other weird things, is that he has always…
The jackboot zealotry of ushers is ruining theatre
Southwark Playhouse has revived an American show, The Last Five Years, whose run was cancelled in March. In advance, I…
Who will have more informants: the Stasi or Covid marshals?
Information overload The government’s plan to put ‘Covid wardens’ on the streets to enforce the new rule against more than…
Why I’ve given up on handbags
How I gave up an unnecessary habit
Letters: Why does No.10 seem so oblivious to the threat of Scottish independence?
Referendum risk Sir: James Forsyth’s excellent analysis (‘To save the Union, negotiate independence’, 5 September) has one flaw: it is…
The danger of following ‘the science’
I have decided to divorce my wife after 31 years on scientific grounds. Though perfectly happy, on reassessing my original…
