My Blog

The Great Frost of 1709 has been in the news this week, quite possibly for the first time since 1709

It has been a week of mixed messages. Not just on the release from lockdown, but on the economy. The

Rather like dedicated Remainers, pro-lockdown enthusiasts never seem to give up. Their ardour will have been fuelled by leaks over

As the snow fell on Sunday, I almost expected a Cabinet minister to address the nation that very evening: “Don’t

The NHS is a highly centralised organisation. During the Covid crisis, policy decisions have been made at the top and then

One of the most depressing aspects of the decade of the 2010s, well before Covid-19 struck, was the apparently very

Let’s start the New Year with a very positive point. The speed of scientific innovation seems to be accelerating sharply.

Imagine. No, not the silly childish song by John Lennon. Imagine there were no vaccines available. What would Matt Hancock,

Christmas is a time to be charitable. So let’s spare a thought for those who fought against the referendum result.

The development of the vaccines has changed many things. It has even influenced the opinion of the Prince of Lockdown

Just over 200 years ago, the finances of the British government looked even more parlous than they do today. Since

The vaccines seem to be coming thick and fast. The task now is to ensure that enough people get them

The various new vaccines announced over the past two weeks give real hope of a return to normal life. Of

Justice secretary Robert Buckland last week blamed the public for England’s new lockdown. In particular, the fault was with people

So Boris Johnson has failed to follow his own government’s guidelines on cost-benefit appraisal. Study after study by economists show

Economics is at long last storming the bastions of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). This citadel of epidemiologists

The word “narrative” is usually seen as being a posh way of saying “story”. But the idea of narratives is

Last month, the official group of scientific advisers — SAGE — warned the government that only a quarter of those

Verification and validation. It is hard to imagine a more nerdy phrase. But it is, in essence, how science makes

Scepticism about the advice given by government scientists about Covid-19 is rising sharply. In areas like Bolton infections are high.