With Christmas approaching, I couldn’t help wondering how The Nativity might have turned out if coronavirus had been around back then. The Bible would probably have recorded it something like this… And lo, Caesar Borisius decreed that a mass vaccination for the pestilence which is called Co-Vid should take place among all the citizenry of … Read more
Banning Xmas would be ‘frankly inhuman’ says Boris but, according to the polls, the public don’t agree. The majority want Boris’s ‘relaxed’ Christmas rules cancelled, half say the current rules aren’t strict enough and only a third want everything to continue as planned. We’re crying out for someone to have the guts to take control … Read more
In our censorious age, it’s worth thinking of all the revered writers, artists and musicians of the past who might find themselves ‘cancelled’ if they were alive today. Would John Lennon be cancelled? Today, he is considered a saint, but in our society sanctity is conditional on death: the living are less readily forgiven. In … Read more
You may view your gas boiler as a faithful workhorse which sits in a corner, blamelessly heating your home and providing hot water year after year. But to the Government it is an environmental vandal which has had its day. This week, the Department for Business published its energy White Paper, suggesting ways that it … Read more
ALEX BRUMMER: A ‘global Britain’ must turn this dream into reality By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Published: 23:55 GMT, 16 December 2020 | Updated: 00:16 GMT, 17 December 2020 The dramatic reduction in flights worldwide due to the pandemic has done what decades of protests by green warriors failed to do – slashing … Read more
If it were left to Captain Cautious we’d eat turkey with Swarfega: HENRY DEEDES watches Chris Whitty deliver more Christmas gloom By Henry Deedes for the Daily Mail Published: 22:54 GMT, 16 December 2020 | Updated: 00:08 GMT, 17 December 2020 Boris Johnson looked as though he had been forced to swallow a three-day-old sardine. … Read more
These are crucial weeks for Boris Johnson. Crucial for the country too. We are caught up in a perfect storm of a possible No Deal Brexit and an apparently resurgent pandemic. On Brexit, we may be edging towards an agreement which will avert the perils of No Deal. But we’re not there yet, and within … Read more
What is it about carrot-topped Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden that fails to fill you with confidence? That precious voice, perhaps, or the way he reminds you of a model from a whimsical Boden catalogue. Maybe it’s his failure to stand up for theatres these past ten months. Whatever it is, he does not strike you … Read more
The best gift we can offer our families this Christmas is to refuse to meet them. That’s what I’ve done, and although it wasn’t easy, I believe it’s time for us older people to be brave and firm, and tell our families to stay away. And if the young argue, just ask them: do you … Read more
There are reassuring signs from ministers that a relaxation of Covid restrictions for part of the festive period will go ahead. It is a pragmatic decision and the right one. My own Christmas routine has been perfected during 46 years of marriage. On Christmas Eve I shall drive to London’s Smithfield Market to buy a … Read more