Back by popular demand – mine. I have to do something to while away the time in my lonely barn halfway up a sheep-ridden hillside, wrapped up in scarves and mittens, pencil stub between my fingers, teeth chattering, the stormy wind howling outside, rain lashing the windows, like some minor character in Dr Zhivago or Jane Eyre with no-… (“Enough with the clichés! Get on with it!” Ed). 1. The Shami Chakrabarti Award for Trashing One’s Reputation – Of course,…
This could get very political very quickly While the United States and the EU continue to deliberate on the Oxford vaccine the big news in the UK is that it has now been approved and that we are told 4 million jabs are ready for distribution. The expectation is very high amongst many who see the vaccine as a way of managing to move on from the dark days of the lockdown which has been going on since last March…
Following in Robert Smithson’s footsteps, it’s time to nail my colours to the mast again. At the end of each year, I like to set out my expectations for the year ahead, not because I’m particularly accurate (I’m not) but because it is useful to see where my expectations went wrong at a later date. My starting point for the year ahead is always the finishing point for the previous year. Where do we start? The whole world has been hit by the…
The virus will continue to do its worst. It may well mutate further. There will be another outbreak (possibly even a serious one) in China but the Chinese government will say far less about it. Foreign journalists reporting on it will be expelled. Chinese journalists won’t report on it for fear of facing the same fate as Zhang Zhan. The government’s vaccination programme will not reach the level of daily vaccinations needed to stop its spread. By early summer the…
In 8 days time in the state of Georgia there are critical elections which will have a huge impact on how the US is governed at the start of the Biden administration. For on November 3rd the Democrats failed to win control of the Senate but there are two seats outstanding in the state of Georgia. One was a regular election that comes round for every 6 years and the other was a special election for a seat that had…
The government’s gamble looks set to pay off On a personal note I am a 74 year old male with a pre-existing respiratory condition and ever since the COVID crisis began last March my overwhelming objective each day has been not to catch it. My recurring nightmare has been dying alone in hospital without my loved ones around me. The most pleasurable moment of my life was being given oxygen at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in September 2003…
I think it takes a bit of temerity to make forecasts for the year ahead after the year we have just had. Looking back at my forecasts for 2020 there is a notable missing black swan from the list. However, and in the spirit of things: Covid: Although things will be better by the end of the year, at least in the developed world, the ravages of the virus will go on for longer than we hope with severe restrictions…