lockdown
Abolishing Covid restrictions now is bold, brave – and necessary
Shortly after Covid emerged, our civil liberties were suspended. The government took control of when and for how long we…
Two years on, what's the evidence for lockdown?
Did lockdowns save lives? We will never have a definitive answer to this vital question because it was impossible to…
The real problem with the BBC’s partygate coverage
As a journalist, it’s never a comfortable feeling when the news organisation you work for becomes the story. But with…
We must never abandon children during lockdown again
Schools are far more than mere exam factories. Across the UK, teachers in 32,000 schools and colleges care for children…
The Netherlands is growing tired of lockdown restrictions
On Wednesday at De Kleine Komedie, the oldest theatre in Amsterdam, the sound of comics on stage will be interspersed…
Now Boris must make another admission: lockdown was a mistake
On 20 May 2020, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement on social media which summed up the conditions in the…
Favourite books revisited: Rob Doyle’s edgy reading list
‘Male writers now are the opposition party, and that may not be such a bad thing for them.’ So Rob…
Boris Johnson is running out of road
There has been no good news for Boris Johnson today. After an email leaked on Monday evening showing that the Prime…
How long until we tire of Boris?
The brilliant but troubled footballer Mario Balotelli once scored a goal in a Manchester derby match and then lifted up…
Sage memo makes the case for lockdown
On Monday, Covid restrictions were rejected after the cabinet debated the issue robustly for the first time since the pandemic…
It’s time to end the era of forced lockdown restrictions
Monday’s Cabinet meeting held over Zoom was a fraught affair by the sounds of it. Michael Gove and Sajid Javid…
Is Omicron now falling in South Africa?
Man makes Covid predictionsand God laughs. Yet with the stakes this high in Britain, every bit of real-world data is…
Five lockdown questions the cabinet must ask
The cabinet will meet this afternoon, with more restrictions and even a new lockdown on the agenda. But have ministers…
Our growing unwillingness to understand the past
I was recently reading the works of the 17th-century antiquary John Aubrey, who at one point mentions a ghost craze…
It’s not up to Boris to save Christmas – it’s up to us
How well-behaved have you been in the second year of Covid? I wouldn’t say I’ve been perfect but I haven’t…
Lockdown, protests, parties and Matt Hancock’s kiss
January The United Kingdom found itself in possession of a trade agreement with the EU. Coronavirus restrictions were tightened. The…
Lost in the fog: The Fell, by Sarah Moss, reviewed
Novelists are leery about letting the buzzwords of recent history into their books. The immediate past threatens to upstage the…
Lockdown creations: the best of the year’s cookery books reviewed
‘I may, one day, stop making notes and writing down recipes,’ Nigel Slater says in A Cook’s Book (Fourth Estate,…
Covid could paralyse the new German coalition
An iron curtain has descended on Europe, and once again, it goes right through the middle of Germany. The average…
How men’s wardrobes prove constraints can be good for us
One thing that surprised every-one during lockdown was how many people derived unexpected pleasure from living under imposed restrictions. Can…
Why lockdown sceptics like me lost the argument
I’m optimistic that the government won’t implement ‘Plan B’, let alone impose another lockdown — but not because sceptics like…
Why did we decide that Covid was over?
Look, I don’t know much epidemiology. Can’t pretend to. So what follows is, necessarily, a personal finger to the wind.…
Can booster shots help Britain avoid another lockdown?
For weeks now, ministers have been getting increasingly frustrated by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s failure (JCVI) to back…
The emergency is over. Now the government must relinquish its emergency powers
For 18 months, the government has held power over us as never before in peacetime. The emergency powers granted by…
Covid pingdemic takes its toll on Britain's economic bounce-back
The arrival of ‘freedom day’ on 19 July enabled people to return to concerts, festivals, and ditch social distancing, but…
