If you’re in at least one queer-leaning WhatsApp group, you’ll know that recently they’ve become dominated by one topic of conversation: where and how to get a monkeypox vaccine. This old-school word-of-mouth system – sharing which email addresses work for which clinics, how many hours (and it is usually hours) you’ll probably have to wait at a given place, and which sites have already run out – shouldn’t be needed for public health in 2022. We should have already learned the lessons of the last global health emergency. It is, however, what queer men have been left with. Official information is patchy at best and non-existent at worst, and outside London getting hold of the vaccine at all is all but impossible. ...

It's hard to imagine a role that Boris Johnson would be less well-suited for than that of Nato secretary-general. Yet that's the latest job the outgoing Prime Minister is rumoured to be up for. (Other suggested next steps for Johnson have in recent days included editor of the Evening Standard, joining the speaking circuit in the US and a prompt attempt to return to No 10.) Now, according to a report in the Telegraph on 26 July, various Tory politicians and Ukrainian MPs have suggested that Johnson should succeed Jens Stoltenberg, who is due to step down as secretary-general in September next year. Many pointed to Johnson’s staunch support of Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, since the start of Russia’s invasion as suitable ...

The chaos and gridlock at the port of Dover is not solely the result of Brexit. That is a fact – there were periods of hellish congestion on the route from England to France before the UK decided to leave the EU (I remember waiting seven hours in a car park in Calais as a child in one particularly bad year), and no doubt there would have been more had the country voted differently. Staff shortages, miscommunication between the French and British sides, and the overwhelming spike in demand at the start of the school holidays are all non-Brexit factors in the disastrous delays. But – and this is an important "but" – it is also a fact that Brexit is ...

Labour’s big economy announcements yesterday (25 July) were marred by rows over its position on public ownership. Keir Starmer and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, initially ruled out bringing crucial public utilities into state ownership, before she back-tracked and confirmed Labour’s support for rail nationalisation. The party is out of line with public opinion, out of line with global economic trends, and may even find itself on the wrong side of the Conservatives on the issue. Public ownership is popular – hugely so. There is majoritarian support for water, buses, railways and gas and electricity supplies being in public hands. Conservatives are only slightly less likely to support public ownership than Labour voters: 60 per cent of 2019 Tory voters support ...

Many adjectives attach themselves to Boris Johnson: mendacious, amoral, narcissistic, ill-disciplined, lazy. Now we have a new one. It is “deluded”, for he seems to think he can renege on his own resignation and remain Prime Minister. “He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can,” Peter Cruddas, the Tory donor whom Johnson ennobled against official advice, told the Daily Telegraph after meeting the disgraced Prime Minister at Chequers. This is pure fantasy. Although Johnson will not leave office until 5 September, he was forced to announce his resignation on 7 July after 57 of his own ministers and scores of back-bench Tory MPs demanded he step down. ...

We are entering the final laps of the Conservative leadership race, but neither candidate is filling voters with much confidence. Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor who would cut taxes and curb public spending if only he could, has the inconvenient baggage of his partygate fine to deal with. Liz "Just Call Me Thatcher" Truss, on the other hand, is seen as less Iron Lady, more, well, silly. Online search results illustrate this nicely. Google “Rishi Sunak silly” and you will find a plethora of articles quoting him as saying it would be “silly” to help families with bills during the cost-of-living crisis. Google “Liz Truss silly” and you get articles glorifying her “finest moments” and alleging her lack of intelligence. A comparison of search trends regarding ...

The NHS was recruiting like mad when I applied for my first job as a doctor in 2001. They were responding to a shortage like the one that is happening now – in which a staffing crisis is said to have become so significant it is putting patient safety at risk. A Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee report released today (25 July) finds that the UK is short of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.Back when I started, there was an incentive to join the NHS. It wasn’t glamorous, with its Florence Nightingale-style wards and grand but inadequate hospital buildings. But doctors had a good salary, good career progression and they seemed to be ...

This article was originally published on 17 June 2022. It has been updated in light of the confirmation that the UK will host Eurovision. Eurovision 2023 will be held in the UK, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed today. Ukraine's victory in the 2022 contest in Turin last month inevitably prompted discussions about whether the country could realistically host the contest, given its war with Russia It was decided on 17 June that it just would not be feasible or safe to do so and has today been confirmed that the UK will host. Given that the UK came second and the BBC is very well practised in running big international events, Britain was always seen as the likely stand-in. ...