How the UK floundered in the face of Covid-19

Britain and Covid-19: a chronicle of incompetence

A long read by Martin Fletcher on six months that shook the UK as an “arrogant, cavalier and complacent” government squandered valuable time. 

The fatal delusions of Boris Johnson

An essay by Fintan O’Toole on why post-Brexit Britain proved incapable of fulfilling its most basic responsibility: keeping its citizens safe. 

How the UK trailed the rest of the world

NS data analysis reveals that it took the UK ten days after its tenth Covid-19 death to cancel public events and close schools – longer than any other country.

Leader: Someone has blundered

Our editorial on why it is now imperative for the UK to learn from its failures.

Why Britain failed: the international view 

How the UK looks from abroad 

Writers from France, Germany, Poland, Georgia and New Zealand on why the British government’s handling of the pandemic is viewed as a cautionary tale.

The government’s avoidable errors

Slow to lock down, slow to stop the spread – the charts that show the ineffectiveness of the UK’s Covid-19 response

An NS data investigation shows the UK acted the slowest of any major economy – a decision that may have cost thousands of lives. 

How Britain’s essential but most vulnerable workers were exposed as the virus spread rapidly

The New Statesman’s Britain editor Anoosh Chakelian on “the great betrayal” of the workers we all depend on.

The government chose to follow the wrong science – with lethal social and economic consequences

Our health columnist Phil Whitaker on how the UK’s overconfidence in theoretical modelling was rudely exposed. 

The schools debacle reveals what has gone wrong for a government that is rapidly losing authority

Helen Thompson on how the government’s failings and structural problems have lethally combined in the field of education. 

Why Britain was unprepared for catastrophe 

Where did the UK go wrong?

Sage contributors and other health and science experts deliver their judgement on the UK government’s response.

Ten years of data reveal how austerity weakened the UK’s pandemic response

Cuts to local and national services over the past decade appear almost perfectly tailored to damage resilience in the face of coronavirus, write Anoosh Chakelian and Michael Goodier. 

The crises to come

Revealed: Three quarters of leading UK businesses plan to cut jobs

A survey of more than 500 industry leaders, including chief executives, directors and vice presidents, shows the potentially devastating economic consequences of the pandemic, writes Oscar Williams. 

How to stop a pandemic

Anjana Ahuja on the lessons our leaders must learn from the Covid-19 crisis to prepare for the next virus.

Newly released data shows towns in the North and Midlands at risk of a second wave

Local lockdowns in Bradford, Barnsley and Rochdale could follow that in Leicester, reports Michael Goodier.