A miracle recovery
THE OMICRON VARIANT (which itself sounds like an undistinguished Netflix action film, probably starring Jason Statham) has swept the country as vigorously as Dick Van Dyke went for the chimneys in Mary Poppins, leaving boredom and fatigue in its wake.
Book launches, like every other kind of social merriment, were duly cancelled. At least I managed to make it to a couple in the dying days of 2021, when people were allowed to converse in person without festooning themselves in masks.
One especial highlight came at the launch of ’s excellent new biography of. So lavish was the hospitality and so thick with cabinet ministers was the crowd that one distinguished publisher promptly collapsed to the floor.