Politics

Oh dear. It was just two weeks ago that Mr S remarked on Nicola Sturgeon’s unfortunate habit of sneering at journalists who criticised her Covid policies – only to then quietly backtrack days later, without apology or remorse. And now another U-turn can be added to the growing list, after the First Minister today announced she would cut the self-isolation period to seven days. The move is in keeping with Edinburgh’s record throughout the pandemic in moving glacially slow to recognise the wisdom of anything done in London. For England changed its Covid rules on 22 December so that infected individuals can stop isolating after seven days rather than ten, so

Boris Johnson latest Covid press conference was slightly confusing. The Prime Minister spent nearly an hour saying nothing particularly new. He warned that there was ‘considerable pressure’ on the NHS at the moment and unveiled daily priority lateral flow testing for 100,000 essential workers so that key services, including healthcare, don’t seize up due to staff absences. But while he accepted that hospitals were feeling the heat, he also insisted that there was no data suggesting that a lockdown was necessary or helpful. Indeed, he argued:  ‘We have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again. We can keep our schools and our

‘A stain on our soul’. That was how Gordon Brown, in his latest missive on the subject, described the failure of the west to ensure that the whole world is vaccinated. In a previous attack on western policy — at the end of November, just as Omicron was emerging — he wrote of “hoarding” and ‘vaccine nationalism’. Take Africa: it is certainly true that vaccination rates in many countries are very low. While the UK has managed to deliver 195 doses per 100 people, Nigeria has only managed seven, Ethiopia and Somalia nine, and Chad and South Sudan two. Can all this be blamed on the failure of western nations to donate

Oh dear. There seems to be something of an ongoing campaign against JK Rowling at the moment. The Harry Potter writer has dared to continue speaking out about her views on sex and gender in recent months, earning the ire of the Twitter mob in the process. Despite incidents – like her credit being downsized to being barely visible in the trailer for the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel – the writer retains her popularity with fans, something the Guardian discovered when it asked its readers ‘Tell us: who is your 2021 Person of the Year?’ An online social media campaign swiftly ensured to put Rowling’s name forward, with supporters writing on the submission form their reasons for why she ought

The good news picture continues to build for Omicron. Late on New Year’s Eve, the UK Health Security Agency released an update to their estimates for vaccine effectiveness, and for the first time they’ve been able to give a picture of how well vaccines protect against hospitalisation from Omicron. The figure is strong: 88 per cent. This bodes well for a country with the highest booster uptake in Europe (94 per cent of over-60s are now boosted) and the study should offer reassurance ahead of Monday’s decision on whether to impose more restrictions on England. First of all, this chart shows protection against symptomatic disease. Oxford/AstraZeneca is ineffective against Omicron