Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 46

Boris Johnson loves U-turns. Let's hope this extends to a no-deal Brexits | Simon Jenkins

In his intransigence over EU trade talks, the prime minister is wilfully dragging us toward disaster. He must be stopped

Britain could be the first developed economy to be sabotaged by maths. Not by war, ideology or disease, but maths. The prime minister is said to be mesmerised by models.

Related: Failure of Brexit talks could lead to terrorism intelligence delays, say Lords

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To save the British economy, don't just open shops – give people the cash to spend | Simon Jenkins

Rishi Sunak needs to think radically by introducing a universal basic income until this crisis passes

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My local high street has refitted itself for today’s reopening of non-essential shops, enabling customers to stay 2 metres apart. Businesses have spent thousands in a frantic attempt to stave off imminent bankruptcy. Yet within a week that money may have to be spent again, as Boris Johnson teases that he may change the distancing rule fr...

Protests aren't an affront to democracy – they're liberty rampant | Simon Jenkins

The greatest risk is not that a statue may be toppled, but that the authorities might overreact with curbs on civil liberty

Two widely reported acts of civil disobedience took place in Britain this past month. One was on the streets of Bristol and led to the toppling of a slave-trader’s statue. The other was on the Dorset coast at Bournemouth and Durdle Door, where thousands flagrantly breached the government’s social distancing law and, in the government’s words, “risked lives”. In both cases, t...

To prevent a chaotic end to lockdown, the public should be told the true risks | Simon Jenkins

Give us the facts. The government scared British people into their homes – now it must reassure them back out

See all our coronavirus coverageCoronavirus – latest updates

Just tell the truth. If the government is to get the country out of the mess of lockdown, it must take people into its confidence. It scared us into it, and must now reassure us out of it. 

This week children are returning to school in England, on the basis that the risk to them and their families from Covid-19 is “minuscule”. Wha...

Britain's double shame: coronavirus deaths and economic collapse | Simon Jenkins

Lockdown is likely to go down in history as the UK’s most costly policy failure of modern times

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Quick. Open schools. Pull back the police. Roll out test and trace. Get the pubs working. Boris is in trouble. Help him out. Ensure daily good news.

Thank you, Dominic Cummings. Any pretence that lockdown is led by “the science” has always been rubbish. It has been an exercise in social control by an initially panic-driven government. However l...

Explain, apologise, move on: what Johnson should have said about Dominic Cummings | Simon Jenkins

The prime minister’s statement insulted public intelligence. It was about one thing – how does it make him look

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Boris Johnson has seriously blown it. Usually he contrives himself to be his own worst enemy – now it seems to be Dominic Cummings, his chief adviser. In the affair of the Durham runner, a wise political strategist would have given simple advice. Prime Minister, just say sorry. Go before the cameras and declare:

“My fellow Brito...

If we can do without GCSEs and university exams now, why go back? | Simon Jenkins

Abandon this addiction to assessment. For one year at least, let the class of 2020 be assumed to have passed with honour

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The exam season is upon us, or rather is not upon us. Its pens and papers, its clocks, marks, adjustments and grades are as dust. There are some blessings to Covid-19, and one may yet be to liberate education from the dictatorship of “the test”.

The government has already abandoned this year’s GCSEs and A-levels, replac...

As Europe emerges from lockdown, the question hangs: was Sweden right? | Simon Jenkins

Stockholm gambled in its response to coronavirus, but neither its economy nor its healthcare system have collapsed

Who on earth is right? We cannot all be right.

One country has all but dropped off the Covid-19 radar: Sweden. Just two months ago, it held hands with Britain in rejecting total lockdown and trusting social distancing. Then on 23 March, Boris Johnson did a U-turn, leaving Sweden and, to a lesser extent, Germany, on its own. Since then the divergence has become radical and...

The UK stays alert, and confused: Politics Weekly podcast

Jonathan Freedland and Peter Walker dissect the latest news from Westminster. Ayesha Hazarika and Andrew Gimson explore the future of opposition politics and Simon Jenkins brings us back through 20 years of London mayoral elections

Many businesses and employees were pleasantly surprised on Tuesday to hear the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announce an extension to the furlough scheme until the end of October. The Guardians Peter Walker joins Jonathan Freedland to discuss whether or not Sunak has...

Get back to work, is Johnson's cry. But the economic hardship isn't over | Simon Jenkins

With the stakes this high, there has to be discussion of the data that guides the prime ministers decisions

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Now we know. Boris Johnson says we can be a little less careful while still being extremely careful. What that means remains unclear. Stay at home has thankfully gone, and get back to work is thankfully Johnsons cry. But how these concessions are to be implemented is opaque. Britain is still unique in Europe in conveying a sense...