Why are excess deaths higher now than during Covid?
More people are dying every week than during Covid’s peak years. Last month there were 1,564 more deaths than average…
The metrics that will decide the next PM’s fate
Gone in a flash, Liz Truss becomes the shortest serving prime minister in British history. As it stands, she’s 75…
Six graphs that could seal Liz Truss’s fate
When Britain crashed out of the European exchange rate mechanism on Black Wednesday, prime minister John Major phoned the Sun…
More Britons than ever are out of work due to long-term sickness
Some nine million working-age people are out of work and are not looking for it either. Figures released by the…
Barcodes
Beep-bop. The sound of the supermarket checkout – a noise Morrisons felt the need to mute after the Queen’s death…
How likely are the lights to go out this winter?
Britain will make it through the winter without the lights going out. That’s the view of the National Grid, which is…
Why life expectancy is going down in Scotland
Life expectancy is perhaps the surest sign of a country’s welfare, which makes it all the more worrying that Scotland’s…
Is long Covid all in the mind?
What’s the link between long Covid and mental health? A study just published in the Journal of the American Medical…
US lockdowns wipe out decades of maths and reading progress
In Britain, the damage of lockdown was easily covered up by grade inflation: with 45 per cent of A Level…
We’re at pandemic levels of death. Why is no one talking about it?
At the peak of the lockdowns, thousands were dying every week. Newspaper front pages demanded action. But in the latest…
Has Sadiq Khan’s junk food ad ban really stopped London getting fatter?
London Mayor Sadiq Khan made a bold claim this week: ‘As a result of our junk food advertising ban on…
Scotland’s drug deaths scandal is a problem no one seems able to solve
Scotland has a high amount of drugs deaths. But it’s not just that. It’s that Scotland suffers drugs deaths at levels…
Are masks bad for you?
Could masks be making us sick? That’s the suggestion in a Japanese study, published this week in Nature’s Scientific Report’s…
Boris’s premiership in seven graphs
Boris Johnson has just resigned – forced out by the sheer number of resignations, leaving him without a government. He…
The mystery of Britain’s surging at-home deaths
Britain may look like it’s back to normal after the lockdowns but one alarming trend that emerged in 2020 is…
Lockdown’s impact on young children: a look at the data
How much damage did lockdown inflict on children’s development? This could be one of the least-explored scandals in public life…
Is there a new Covid wave – and do we need to worry?
Is Covid back on the rise? The ONS survey shows increasing prevalence in England and Northern Ireland, with ‘uncertain’ results…
Did monkeypox leak from Wuhan?
It’s a familiar story. Close contacts of individuals infected by a dangerous illness are being asked by UK officials to…
Bowls
Bowls has a reputation as a sedate pastime, but it can be as fiercely competitive as any other sport. It…
A fine mess
The lockdown penalty charges keep coming
Will Nicola Sturgeon’s mask restrictions have any effect?
As England axes the last of its Covid regulations, Nicola Sturgeon is extending Scotland’s – saying that mask wearing in…
Covid is rising again. Should we worry?
For some time now, Covid has been rising in Scotland – there are now more Scots in hospital with Covid…
Sage admits its models were ‘at variance to reality’. But why?
The Sage committee was set up as a pool of experts on tap to advise government. During the pandemic, it mutated…
Why Sage got Omicron wrong
Given that lockdown was very nearly ordered on the advice of Sage last month, it’s worth keeping an eye on…
Omicron is on its way out
Omicron peaked in England in early January, according to figures just released by the ONS. The estimates from the weekly…
