lockdown
Lockdown productivity? Let it go
On the day our A-level exams began some wit wrote on the blackboard: ‘I wasted time, and now doth time…
Travelling lite
The brother of a friend in Durban was once given a generous donation by a wealthy aunt. ‘I hate to…
Covid’s metamorphoses
Is the lockdown causing more harm than good?
We can’t stop here, this is Biden Country
One of the most eye-popping coronavirus containment measures instituted anywhere in the country can currently be found in the small,…
Coronavirus Kentucky-style with Andy Beshear
Everyone in Kentucky knows what five o’clock means. It means it’s time for Andy. Andy, of course, is Kentucky Gov.…
The changes to come in the post-COVID world order
The Democrats are taking their stand on the coronavirus crisis in an untenable position. It is like building a defensive…
COVID-19 vs the American spirit of resistance
If the coronavirus were as deadly as the bubonic plague, which killed about a third of the population of Europe…
Ten lessons we’ve learned from the lockdown so far
Yep, the end is in sight, courtesy of other countries organising the practicalities for the return to some sort of…
Our impatience will end the lockdown
At the farm shop this morning there was a chap panic-buying a large metal and plaster flamingo. It was the…
Real life
The man was unloading cycles from the boot of his car just as I was about to take the turning…
Real problems erase fake ones
Last week, a friend quoted a two-year-old email of mine: ‘I’m starting to root for a plague or world war…
The case for trust
Our Plan is entirely new, comprising – 1. The whole News of the Week: selected, sifted, condensed and arranged as…
A kind of magic
You have to admire the spirit of the organisers of last weekend’s One World: Together at Home concert. To put…
Diary
The vocabulary of Brexit has passed into oblivion. Now there’s fresh work to be done. We all know about ‘flattening…
An infectious uncertainty
I had thought that actually getting the coronavirus would bring clarity — that there would be some satisfaction in meeting…
Why Joe Biden’s America loves a lockdown
COVID-19, the Wuhan virus, is an epidemiological scourge — but it’s also a clarifying catalyst for American politics. The virus’s…
Lie of the land
We’re not all in this together
Within these walls
High Tide got there first. The East Anglian theatre company has produced a series of lockdown mini-dramas, Love in the…
Behind closed doors
Domestic abuse sufferers are the hidden victims of lockdown
Globally and locally, we need stronger business models for survival
When I wrote last week about business-to-business pain-sharing for survival, I was naturally thinking first about UK companies. I say…
Climbing the walls
How to scale a mountain without leaving home
Introverts, your country needs you
Once we’ve flattened the curve of infection with mass self-isolation, the next debate will concern how to soften the restrictions…
Dear Mary
Q. Each day while working from home, I have at least one hour-long meeting via Zoom. One of my colleagues…
The big success of small shops
From time to time, usually when things are quiet, the government brings on the dancing girls. David Cameron made Carol…
The turf
Sport may well be ‘the great triviality’ as Timeform founder Phil Bull once put it, and racing as trivial as…
