Weeks continue to be so eventful that it can be difficult not to let the latest onslaught eclipse important developments occurring at the start. All discussions and decisions have to be seen in the context of the latest sobering statistics: a further 696 coronavirus deaths were announced on Wednesday, the highest UK daily total sinceContinue reading “Sunday 29 November”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Sunday 22 November
As bad news and government blunders continue to come thick and fast, the Office for National Statistics tells us that the latest weekly count of COVID deaths in England and Wales (week ending 6 November) showed a rise of 40%, the highest since May. Taking just one day as an example, Thursday saw 22,915 newContinue reading “Sunday 22 November”
Saturday 14 November
Of all the eventful weeks we’ve had recently, this one must be a record, including the aftermath of Biden’s victory, Trump’s ongoing refusal to concede amid allegations of fraud, the second predictable government U-turn on free school meals, the relief (despite the hard work to come) of the Pfizer vaccine announcement, the defeat of theContinue reading “Saturday 14 November”
Saturday 7 November
Here we are in the first few days of England’s second lockdown and some are already asking ‘what lockdown’? At least in London we’re still seeing heavy traffic on the roads, numerous people walking around and on public transport, non-essential shops open and not a single police officer in sight, let alone the COVID marshallsContinue reading “Saturday 7 November”
Sunday 1 November
Well, here we are again, in a place many of us expected and dreaded for some time: a second national lockdown from Thursday (subject to parliamentary approval on Wednesday), naturally briefed to the press late on Friday evening. This is a habit which undermines trust in the government even more, ensuring its bombshells fall onContinue reading “Sunday 1 November”
Saturday 24 October
During a week dominated by the Greater Manchester standoff, more local mayors giving the lie to the PM’s insistence that he’d had some ‘great’ conversations with them, COVID cases continue to rise at an alarming rate, with more and more areas of the UK going into Tier 3 or total lockdown. As if it neededContinue reading “Saturday 24 October”
Saturday 17 October
With a week like this, during which COVID cases have risen by 50% (now about one in 160 according to the Office for National Statistics) and the government has imposed its much-trailed Three Tier strategy, it could be easy to overlook other important news, such has been the resulting outcry. Under the new rules, nearlyContinue reading “Saturday 17 October”
Saturday 10 October
I seem to be saying this most weeks but it has indeed been another eventful week, some developments proving quite shocking when we thought it couldn’t get any worse. Leaving aside the drama across the Atlantic, the main one here must be being the loss under the aegis of Public Health England and the discreditedContinue reading “Saturday 10 October”
Saturday 3 October
Not eclipsed by the news about POTUS, another eventful week, to put it mildly, and perhaps we should no longer be surprised that both our PM and skills minister Gillian Keegan on Tuesday couldn’t answer questions on the detail of local lockdown restrictions, which of course makes them less enforceable. It’s been very telling thatContinue reading “Saturday 3 October”
Sunday 27 September
During a week when the Support for Jobs scheme pushed the descriptors ‘viable’ and ‘non-viable’ to the fore, with robust debates about how ‘viable’ jobs should be defined, using the terms in other contexts has been too tempting for some to resist. John Crace has written about ‘our semi-viable leader’, whose position is looking increasinglyContinue reading “Sunday 27 September”
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 