The United Kingdom has become an Anglosphere outlier in its attachment to coronavirus restrictions. In other English-speaking democracies, something close to normal life has resumed. But Brits are not allowed to gather indoors in groups of more than six. Masks, one-way systems, and all the paraphernalia of lockdowns remain in place. People are still being urged to work from home, with the result that some state employees have essentially had a paid vacation for 15 months.

Why? Wasn’t Britain supposed to be ahead of the game on vaccines? And wasn’t that meant to mean an earlier unlocking? The country was due to scrap its remaining restrictions on June 21, but having seized powers on a supposedly emergency basis, the state seems determined to keep finding new reasons to cling on to them.