| Dear reader,
While the Prime Minister contemplates plunging much of the country further into local lockdowns (you can read the latest here), the debate over whether these are a good idea at all continues. Among the leading opponents is Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford, who has written a thought-provoking column for The Telegraph about what the alternatives might look like.
The pandemic had, for a while, suppressed normal politics. Now, however, Labour is returning to the normal tactics of opposition and Sir Keir Starmer is making progress in restoring his party’s patriotic tradition. That, writes William Hague, presents a major threat to Boris Johnson which can only be countered by a focus on the most central of Tory values.
When the economy contracts, a rise in homelessness is sure to follow. But it doesn’t always manifest itself in visible ways or strike the people that you might expect. Bibi Lynch is a successful journalist who owned her own home by her thirties. At 55, Bibi is now about to become homeless for the second time. She explains why, in this moving and troubling piece.
Finally, this week brought the sad news of the death of Eddie Van Halen, the rock legend. In a piece that I particularly enjoyed, Ed Power explores an underappreciated aspect of Van Halen's career – his constant tinkering and invention and how it was inspired by his father's severed finger.
Chris |
