The race for booster jabs

Despite being the world leader in vaccinations, Israel has seen immunity wear off. The UK government is taking note.

Raghib Ali: Freedom Day – why not unlocking now means delaying indefinitely

There comes a point where lockdown is only delaying an inevitable exit wave, not preventing it. This is the right time for ‘step four’.

WATCH: Raghib Ali, our regular contributor, now a Government adviser, on the future of lockdown

He says that “the situation has really changed over the last two weeks” and that “we need to be very cautious going forward”.

Race and disparities. A report so commonsensical but consensus-challenging that we’re surprised it was allowed to happen.

We’re about to find out whether the Commission’s work marks a turning-point for the zeitgiest, policy – and attitudes to the Tories.

Raghib Ali: Why it’s now time to unite behind the roadmap

It gives us the best chance of avoiding a third wave, a fourth lockdown and of getting our lives back to normal as quickly as possible.

Raghib Ali: Christmas is going to be tough, but there is finally light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel

This new variant is understandably causing concern but there is no evidence that vaccines will be less effective. We must stay calm and follow the rules.

Why Conservative backbench resistance to the Government’s Covid strategy may be fading away

Five reasons why Hancock’s announcement of tougher restrictions yesterday met less resistance than might have been expected.

Why we should “have enough of experts” – the SAGE advisers and Great Barrington signatories alike

It’s important to have advisers, but “advisers advise and Ministers decide” – because the latter are accountable to the rest of us.

Steve Baker: Ministers should reject a second lockdown and prepare for Plan B

Government needs to reform the stucture of expert advice, and publish serious analysis of the cost of the options they face.

Three actions that Ministers must take if we’re to live without fear. Or else they and we will be lost.

If the public conversation about lives and livelihoods doesn’t change, we risk being trapped in semi-lockdown semi-permanently.

The Government is losing what control over the politics of the virus it has left

Johnson is being squeezed between dissenting local authorities, an increasingly divided Cabinet – and fundamental problems with test and trace.

Dying by numbers

If we follow Spain and France, and test and trace doesn’t improve, the mood on the Tory backbenches is likely to shift towards a Sweden-style solution.

If you thought staying in lockdown was hard, wait until you see what trying to get out of it is like. But here’s how Johnson could do it.

A successful test, track and quarantine policy would open the door to local paths out of this national shutdown.