When Boris Johnson became Prime Minister what seems like a lifetime ago, he traded heavily on his image as a buccaneering, can-do optimist, the sworn foe of caution and compromise. That Mr Johnson was nowhere to be seen yesterday, as an increasingly sombre, anxious, even hangdog figure unveiled the Government’s latest incarnation of the Covid … Read more
The footage could hardly be more chilling, like something from the wilder fringes of Hollywood’s dystopian imagination. A woman sits at a table, recoiling in fear. She is penned in, surrounded by a mob of masked men and women, their clenched fists raised menacingly in the air. Again and again the rhythmic chants go up: … Read more
A few days ago, I took a stroll to the shops. It was a glorious morning and the parks and cafés were full of families enjoying the sunshine. Perhaps the shops were a little quieter than they would have been a year ago; but they were busy enough. The restaurants were preparing for lunch; the … Read more
Here’s a scene that may sound familiar. A crowd surges through the streets, chanting and shouting, eyes blazing with moralistic fervour. While the police stand limply by, the mob turns its fury on a statue. They rock it on its plinth, their excitement reaching hysteria, before at last it comes crashing down. But they’re not … Read more
Even today, almost a century on, the shadow of the Great Depression hangs heavy. To most of us, the very phrase conjures up images of the winding dole queues, haggard faces and starving children that we associate with the 1930s. And, of course, we all know how that particular story ended. The crowds in Berlin, … Read more
One day, long after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is behind us, historians may see the last few days as the moment when the world tumbled into the abyss. On Thursday, the head of the World Health Organisation declared that mankind stood at a ‘decisive point’. The world faced ‘a crisis, an epidemic that … Read more