The humbling of Dominic Cummings
Boris Johnson’s chief strategist reached No 10 by pitting the people against the political elite and scorning the media. Now…
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The peak
The peak
Inside the mind of Dr Jim Down, a leading intensive care consultant, on the night of the peak number…
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How Albert Camus’s The Plague became the defining book of the coronavirus crisis
Camus’s novel, first published in 1947, has become a global sensation. It is, it seems, the novel for now.
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Breaking the Renaissance myth
Culture and the universal genius were not the only things to thrive in this supposed golden age – so…
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The ship aground
A new poem from Erica Wagner.
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The Adventures of China Iron: a daring, playful story
The fourth novel by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara follows a young woman in pursuit of a freer life, and has…
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The greats outdoors: Alan Reynolds’s Legend in August
Why Alan Reynolds was in fact two completely different artists.
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Netflix’s The Big Flower Fight has its contestants to thank for its success
The personalities that flourish on this show are those of the contestants: a wonderfully unconventional bunch.
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Why The Third Man remains as brilliant as ever
Carol Reed’s postwar mystery, available to stream from this week, wears its greatness lightly.
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Little Fires Everywhere – boring, improbable and hackneyed
I know you’re desperate for a new box-set – but, boy, is this dull.
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A new BBC radio documentary offers an original, disturbing look at life on death row
“I am in every way an ordinary guy,” says the narrator of the BBC World Service’s The Documentary: The Death…
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Why ancient pandemics may hold the key to our future survival
Our DNA bears the scars of an arms race that humanity has been fighting for millions of years.
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“We weren’t prepared”: Grooming ring prosecutor Nazir Afzal on grief and state failings
The lawyer behind some of Britain’s most high-profile cases reflects on his most personal brush with government incompetence: the…
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China and the attractions of authoritarianism
How the country has been hurt by Covid-19.
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Commons confidential: The end of the daily briefing?
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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First Thoughts: The Cummings affair, declining circulations and the elusive track and trace system
Emboldened by a referendum victory followed by an election triumph, the government is now making elementary errors in press…
By
Letter of the week: Dismantling democracy
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
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Leader: From tragedy to farce
The ultimate blame for the government’s failures lies not with Dominic Cummings but with Boris Johnson.
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The Emily Maitlis row shows the BBC can stray from impartiality, but it acted fast to apologise
The Newsnight host’s criticism of Dominic Cummings was more worthy of a columnist than a BBC presenter.
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Sars, Ebola and Mers were near misses that led us to believe Covid-19 would pass us by too
Each briefly threatened to become a pandemic, but those who dealt with them directly knew they could have caused far…
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All the ways I knew how to flirt have disappeared overnight during lockdown
Faced with a new crush, I’ve reverted to the actions of my adolescence – letter-writing and mixtapes.
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Angela Merkel’s chancellorship “runs and runs” as her ratings surge and lockdown is eased in Germany
Why, despite being at the height of her powers, the chancellor will probably not seek a fifth term. And I say…
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Mike Pompeo does not like answering questions about his actions, but soon he may have to
There’s a sense that things are coming full circle for the US secretary of state.
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Helen Lewis’s Diary: Political gaslighting, learning to write in American, and linking the past with the present
Why gaslighting is not so much about outright lies but obfuscation and sleight-of-hand.
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Despite a global effort, an effective vaccine for Covid-19 will be a very long time coming
To get meaningful results from trials, you need significant numbers of people to encounter coronavirus.
By
How the Cummings debacle reveals the government’s greatest weaknesses and deadliest enemies
Could this be the moment from which Boris Johnson’s administration never recovers?
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Fergus Walsh Q&A: “I’ve had insomnia since coronavirus emerged“
The medical journalist talks Line of Duty, family holidays in Venice and Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep.
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Each day I walk, garden and cook – but at night, my dreams give the lie to my apparent calmness
I double up on the vodka in my cocktail shaker and mute the chaos of my Twitter feed.
By
We’ve lived next to tennis courts for five years, but it has never occurred to me to play. Until now
After two months of no chat and no people and no fun, the sound of racket on string sounds…
By
My secret to befriending lesbians is Samuel Beckett and a bottle of the finest single malt
When a curt nod from a neighbour transforms into a lockdown-breaking high-five.
By
In times of sickness, we turn to food for comfort, prevention and cure
From vinegar to garlicky milk, during past pandemics recipes were prescribed as potential remedies
By The ship aground
A new poem from Erica Wagner.
By Angela Merkel’s chancellorship “runs and runs” as her ratings surge and lockdown is eased in Germany
Why, despite being at the height of her powers, the chancellor will probably not seek a fifth term. And I say…
By Mike Pompeo does not like answering questions about his actions, but soon he may have to
There’s a sense that things are coming full circle for the US secretary of state.
By Helen Lewis’s Diary: Political gaslighting, learning to write in American, and linking the past with the present
Why gaslighting is not so much about outright lies but obfuscation and sleight-of-hand.
By The Emily Maitlis row shows the BBC can stray from impartiality, but it acted fast to apologise
The Newsnight host’s criticism of Dominic Cummings was more worthy of a columnist than a BBC presenter.
By All the ways I knew how to flirt have disappeared overnight during lockdown
Faced with a new crush, I’ve reverted to the actions of my adolescence – letter-writing and mixtapes.
By Sars, Ebola and Mers were near misses that led us to believe Covid-19 would pass us by too
Each briefly threatened to become a pandemic, but those who dealt with them directly knew they could have caused far…
By First Thoughts: The Cummings affair, declining circulations and the elusive track and trace system
Emboldened by a referendum victory followed by an election triumph, the government is now making elementary errors in press…
By “We weren’t prepared”: Grooming ring prosecutor Nazir Afzal on grief and state failings
The lawyer behind some of Britain’s most high-profile cases reflects on his most personal brush with government incompetence: the…
By Netflix’s The Big Flower Fight has its contestants to thank for its success
The personalities that flourish on this show are those of the contestants: a wonderfully unconventional bunch.
By The Adventures of China Iron: a daring, playful story
The fourth novel by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara follows a young woman in pursuit of a freer life, and has…
By Commons confidential: The end of the daily briefing?
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By China and the attractions of authoritarianism
How the country has been hurt by Covid-19.
By Why The Third Man remains as brilliant as ever
Carol Reed’s postwar mystery, available to stream from this week, wears its greatness lightly.
By Letter of the week: Dismantling democracy
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
By A new BBC radio documentary offers an original, disturbing look at life on death row
“I am in every way an ordinary guy,” says the narrator of the BBC World Service’s The Documentary: The Death…
By Despite a global effort, an effective vaccine for Covid-19 will be a very long time coming
To get meaningful results from trials, you need significant numbers of people to encounter coronavirus.
By Little Fires Everywhere – boring, improbable and hackneyed
I know you’re desperate for a new box-set – but, boy, is this dull.
By How the Cummings debacle reveals the government’s greatest weaknesses and deadliest enemies
Could this be the moment from which Boris Johnson’s administration never recovers?
By Leader: From tragedy to farce
The ultimate blame for the government’s failures lies not with Dominic Cummings but with Boris Johnson.
By In times of sickness, we turn to food for comfort, prevention and cure
From vinegar to garlicky milk, during past pandemics recipes were prescribed as potential remedies
By Each day I walk, garden and cook – but at night, my dreams give the lie to my apparent calmness
I double up on the vodka in my cocktail shaker and mute the chaos of my Twitter feed.
By My secret to befriending lesbians is Samuel Beckett and a bottle of the finest single malt
When a curt nod from a neighbour transforms into a lockdown-breaking high-five.
By We’ve lived next to tennis courts for five years, but it has never occurred to me to play. Until now
After two months of no chat and no people and no fun, the sound of racket on string sounds…
By Fergus Walsh Q&A: “I’ve had insomnia since coronavirus emerged“
The medical journalist talks Line of Duty, family holidays in Venice and Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep.
By