Ryan Bourne: The tax hikes that could fall in the south. And tear the Tory coalition apart

The problem is that spiralling spending demands quickly use up the options which voters don’t notice. Eventually you need other big sources of revenue,

Starmer had a point on the Government’s amber travel list

It’s given a series of mixed messages over what this means for people who want to go abroad – with troublesome results.

Dowden, a David for our times, sees off the footballing Goliath. By whispering “boo!” At which the giant bursts into tears.

The Culture Secretary deserves a gold-plated edition of the Bluffers’ Guide to Politics, and must feel this morning like the proverbial dog with two cocks.

Garvan Walshe: We can be sure that those who have been vaccinated won’t die of Covid. So the case for lockdowns is vanishing fast.

It’s one thing to endure them to prevent people dying, and for a relatively short period of time; quite another because we might return to this situation.

Ryan Bourne: How many lives will we save by choosing our own vaccination programme, not the EU’s? Let’s start at nine thousand.

It’s safe to say the UK will have saved tens of thousands of additional lives relative to going at the EU-4’s pace over the coming months.

Instead of EU vaccine nationalism, let’s have UK vaccine internationalism

As Johnson put it yesterday: “we can’t think of this just as a project for us and us alone”.

Travel and the virus. Ministers face some of the hardest decisions yet as they plot UK’s next course.

The terrible choices the Government has had to make are a paradox of the UK’s success as an international travel hub.

Garvan Walshe: This week’s Israel-Morocco deal. A consolation gift for Trump…and a strategic win for China.

The agreement involves revising an international border – opposed in this case by the EU and the UK. It will have knock-on effects elsewhere.

Garvan Walshe: Gloomy Sturgeon projects competence. The Government doesn’t – and the Union may be the price it pays.

The Scottish leader has always tried to temper expectations about the country’s fight with Covid. This could pay off in an independence referendum.

David Davis: My prescription for a Covid Plan B? A strategic dose of vitamin D.

Correcting a deficiency could halve the infection rates in vulnerable groups – and more than halve the death rate for those who get infected.

Bernard Jenkin: A herd immunity policy would mean hundreds of thousands dead. If that’s what’s meant by a Swedish option, forget it.

Those advocating such an option must be clear that this extraordinary human cost is something that they are willing to have others pay.

David Gauke: Johnson’s Covid policy – and why it’s opening up a rift between him and his traditional Tory supporters

If he is to take the necessary steps to get a Brexit deal (and I hope he does), he is going to have to defy those instincts on a second issue, too.

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.

The Moggcast: “Nobody would possibly want us to implement certain clauses of the Treaty of Utrecht”

He implies that Covid Marshalls shouldn’t have police powers, and says Tory members are “more developed in their thinking” on housing than Tory MPs.

Belgium hasn’t “flattened the curve” – and should not be used to justify UK curfews

The Government’s approach has been modelled on the country, even though its cases have continued to rise.