Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Covid-19: time for a People’s Plan
Other countries have enforced and completed successful lockdowns, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE — it’s time we followed these proven steps
People wearing facemasks in Soho, London, after the second national lockdown ends and England has a strengthened tiered system of coronavirus restrictions

NOW is the winter of our discontent — and the Tory government is entirely to blame.

More than nine months into Britain’s Covid-19 crisis, Boris Johnson and his ministers have failed utterly to protect public health and to drive down infections.

This is not just incompetence — although that has been in evidence — it is fundamentally a failure of policy.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
GREEN INNOVATION: The Cheonggyecheon urban redevelopment ope
Features / 29 July 2023
29 July 2023
It is mayors living close to the people who understand what is needed to tackle climate change better than national politicians in their private jets and chauffeur-driven cars, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE
PLENTY TO CHEW ON: (Left) Mission Barrio Adentro, Dr Jose Ca
Features / 1 July 2023
1 July 2023
With the 25th anniversary of his first election approaching this year, KEN LIVINGSTONE writes on the achievements and legacy of an important figure in Latin America’s history
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? Reception class student Jayden-Luke Davi
Features / 16 June 2023
16 June 2023
KEN LIVINGSTONE writes on the importance of devolution – and using devolved powers for progressive ends
'Thatcher's approach to the 1984-85 miners’ strike was a p
Features / 19 May 2023
19 May 2023
Wide-ranging attacks on ‘enemies within’ are reminiscent of Thatcher’s assault on the miners, GLC, and black and Irish communities in the '80s, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE
Similar stories
DAMAGING AGENDA:
Work and Pensions
Secretary Liz Kendall
Features / 24 February 2025
24 February 2025
Labour is deliberately continuing Tory policies that cost us £38 billion more than they save while driving illness rates higher — despite the evidence that previous sanctions doubled suicide attempts, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves at the Confederati
Features / 14 January 2025
14 January 2025
Instead of responding to changed circumstances by adjusting policy, Reeves is using fiscal ‘rules’ as an excuse to force government departments to make even deeper cuts than she had already flagged, says CLAUDIA WEBBE
RAGE: Locals confront police 
guarding the Holiday Inn 
Expr
Features / 17 December 2024
17 December 2024
While Starmer courts BlackRock and backs genocide, leading to despair and historically low voter turnout, the vultures of the new populist right circle Britain’s crumbling institutions, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
REFUSAL: Keir Starmer watches the opening ceremony for the C
Features / 4 November 2024
4 November 2024
The Labour leadership’s refusal to even consider the widely accepted case for Britain to pay reparations for its part in the transatlantic slave trade is a sign of its imperialist worldview, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE