Opinion

How the UK became a terrible place to be a doctor

In some ways, the UK’s doctor shortage resembles the worldwide crunch in healthcare. From France and Germany to the US, Spain and the Nordics, aging populations are increasing demand for doctors, nurses and care workers. Yet medical training is expensive, the number of training placements for ...

Opinion

Finally, a happy chapter in the post-Brexit era

On Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a “new chapter” in UK-European Union relations. It’s easy to be skeptical at such announcements. Before the champagne corks could pop, members of Sunak’s own Conservative party and the Democratic Unionist Party of Nort...

Opinion

Brexit’s unavoidable gravity squeezes UK scientists

One of the most contentious parts of the torturous post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and Europe was the dispute-resolution process. Now it’s being tested. The UK triggered the measure last week, complaining that the European Union has blocked its access to billions of science fundi...

Opinion

Why British conservatives went cold on Rishi Sunak

A year ago, Rishi Sunak was the runaway favourite to be the next Tory leader, with Liz Truss polling only a third of his support. He started the contest in front in surveys of members and won the parliamentary stage of the race comfortably.Polls now put Truss miles ahead. And while the voting by Con...

Opinion

Why is it so hard to get Wimbledon tickets?

Tickets for marquee sporting events don’t come cheap. A top Premier League match, where a stadium can pack 40,000 to 60,000 football fans, easily runs £100 ($121) for club members, with prices far higher on the secondary market. A weekend at the just completed Silverstone Grand Prix star...

Opinion

Should Scotland be an independent country?

Should Scotland leave the United Kingdom?Scots voted “no” to that question eight years ago. But Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to put it to them again next year: She announced a new independence vote on Oct. 19, 2023.She knows the bid to take her case to the U.K. Supreme C...

Opinion

Why you’ll probably get Covid (again) soon

The question used to be: “Have you had Covid?” Now it’s: “How many times have you had it?”Both of us have had a Covid (re)infection in recent months. Many of us know people currently sick with Covid or recently recovered. In the week ending June 24, an estimated 1 in 30...

Opinion

Brexit isn’t Northern Ireland’s biggest problem

The UK government has decided to pick a fight with Brussels over Northern Ireland. In theory, the messy politics of Northern Ireland can be kept separate from the broader mission of “Global Britain,” as the post-Brexit mantra has it. In reality, spillover from a trade war would be hard t...

Opinion

What does Covid do to brain and mind?

Many of us have put Covid largely out of our minds. But one of the most intriguing and important areas of study is exactly what Covid does to the mind. The answer to that question is still far from clear. And yet it affects how we treat Covid as well as how we manage future pandemics and viruses.In ...

Opinion

What does living with Covid mean

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson followed Denmark in scrapping most Covid restrictions for England. His “living with Covid” plan shifts the emphasis from government intervention to personal responsibility.From today England will no longer require people to self-isolate if they’...

Opinion

Is Britain really the world’s least racist country?

At least a half-dozen major inquiries in the past two decades have examined various aspects of race in Britain. All of them found evidence of institutional racism, including four since 2017.Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, launched after the Black Lives...

Opinion

Where will we find the next Covid outbreak?

Israeli scientists monitoring samplings of sewage water in 2013 made a startling discovery: an outbreak of paralyzing polio was imminent. A national vaccination campaign was quickly mobilized and no cases appeared. That same year, Swedish scientists provided public officials with an early warning fo...

Opinion

Brexit one year later: A divisive aftermath in the UK

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around last year, Brits were well tired of Brexit. The trade talks were in their 11th hour, the details were mind-numbing and the big picture had been talked to death over four years. The pandemic made the tortuous divorce between the UK and European Union seem frivo...

Opinion

Frosty resignation leaves Boris Johnson with Brexit meltdown

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around last year, Brits were well tired of Brexit. The trade talks were in their 11th hour, the details were mind-numbing and the big picture had been talked to death over four years. The pandemic made the tortuous divorce between the U.K. and European Union seem fri...

Opinion

Omicron: Keep calm and carry on vaccinating

At least we’re learning. Remember when the early reaction to the outbreak of a deadly virus in Wuhan was to discourage people from changing their travel plans?South Africa’s government didn’t sit on information about a new worrying variant of SARS-CoV-2, which the World Health Orga...

Opinion

Did AstraZeneca keep Britain safer from Covid-19 than Europe?

Pascal Soriot knows how to make a headline. The Astra­Zeneca PLC chief executive officer gave a rare interview to the BBC to mark the opening of a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) research facility in Cambridge. But he couldn’t resist a little plug for his vaccine, too.“If you look at...

Opinion

Covid drugs will change the way we live with the virus

The U.K. was the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine; it has now become the first to approve an at-home treatment for Covid. On Thursday, the medicines regulator, MHRA, green-lit the antiviral drug molnupiravir, produced by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck & Co. and shown in trials to...

Opinion

Tax and spend is Britain’s way to battle inequality

Boris Johnson didn’t just resurrect the idea of “leveling up” as a campaign slogan. (The idea of redressing imbalances in the economy long predates him.) He expanded it, made it a central theme to the Queen’s Speech, delivered his own speech on the matter and even appointed a...

Opinion

Britain’s energy crisis puts net zero in trouble

Faced with an energy crisis and a pile-up of winter pressures, it’s no wonder Boris Johnson has his story and is sticking to it. The U.K. government has said that the rising prices are temporary and that the recent failures of several suppliers merely reflect market forces at work.Politically,...

Opinion

What is behind the UK cabinet reshuffle?

Reshuffle is the right word for it — as in, take a deck of cards and mix it around. Boris Johnson’s new cabinet is mainly populated by names of those who have already been part of the ministerial team.As of Wednesday evening, at least four cabinet members have been sacked, while others h...