The Circuit Breakers should be honest about what they’re asking for: lockdown until Christmas and beyond October 16, 2020 “Circuit breaker lockdown”: sounds cool, doesn’t it? Edgy, effective, high-tech. Circuits involve electricity, electricity is physics, so a circuit breaker must be about science — the kind of science that makes light bulbs flash and powers cutting-edge revolutions that can save a nation from ruin. With pressure building for the government to impose this two-week [...]
The pensions triple-lock is unjustifiable in normal times — in the Covid era, it is utterly unconscionable October 9, 2020 Imagine you a Conservative chancellor trying to steer the economy through the midst of the worst pandemic in modern history. You have done your best to protect jobs and support struggling businesses in the face of drastic lockdown restrictions, while tax receipts shrivelled and the healthcare bill has ballooned beyond all previous measures. Despite your [...]
Sicilian Kiss: Escaping to the pearl of the Ionian Sea October 6, 2020 The weekend The criteria for a weekend away have changed in recent months. On top of the usual considerations — weather, journey time, food, culture — travellers must now think about a host of Covid factors. How successfully is a country suppressing infections? Are there any entry requirements that might catch out visitors at the [...]
Covid-19 does not prove the case for Scottish independence — if anything it does the opposite September 4, 2020 Scotland has had a “good” pandemic. Nicola Sturgeon has excelled. The incompetence of the government south of the border proves once and for all that an independent Scotland would flourish. Or so the Scottish Nationalists will tell you. And it seems to be working. While Boris Johnson was hospitalised and convalescing after his own brush [...]
Gavin Williamson smirks on — proving that this government values loyalty over competence August 19, 2020 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then there is one image that sums up the whole sorry mess of the A-level results fiasco. No, not one of the photos of tearful students, quivering with outrage and despair that their university places had been snatched away by a heartless algorithm. Rather, it is a [...]
With five months to prepare, the A-level results fiasco is a scandal of the government’s own making August 12, 2020 A-level results day is always fraught with drama. Whether its moral panic of grade inflation, handwringing about the relative value of a university degree, or outrage over news stories being illustrated by delighted blonde girls jumping into the air with joy, results day “scandal” it’s a staple of the August news calendar. This year is [...]
For young Londoners, working from home is a cramped and dismal experience August 5, 2020 Ah the great British work from home experiment: levelling the playing field, redressing work-life balance, enabling millions of people to work when and where best suits them. After a brief period of chaos at the end of March when the nation struggled to get to grips with Zoom and Amazon sold out of laptop stands, [...]
Lose five pounds for the government? It’s thanks to the government I gained it in the first place July 29, 2020 I cannot be the only person who has gained five pounds during lockdown. I am still far from overweight (the NHS BMI calculator helpfully tells me that I am in the optimum range for my age and height), but the government’s sudden fixation on slimming down the nation has not exactly been great for my [...]
After a year in the job, Boris Johnson is a disappointment to even his biggest fans July 24, 2020 On the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Live With Littlewood show this week, I was asked to score Boris Johnson’s first year as Tory leader. I am accustomed to being the token left-winger (relatively speaking) on the IEA’s show, which tends to feature economists and journalists who identify firmly on the Conservative right. I was therefore [...]
The proposal to scrap jury trials is an assault on the cornerstone of our justice system June 26, 2020 You might have missed it in the outpouring of excitement over the reopening of pubs next weekend, but coronavirus could be about to claim a new victim: trial by jury. On Tuesday, while the Prime Minister was unveiling a mass relaxation of lockdown restrictions, justice secretary Robert Buckland was informing MPs that legislation to dramatically [...]
