Both groups put themselves at risk every day to keep society functioning, but they have received little by way of appreciation

Stephen Donnelly may be pledging more than he can deliver on vaccines while the new Living with Covid plan is short on detail and has brought more confusion. We deserve better

With his energy, ideas and financial clout, Bill Gates has lots to offer but this complex problem will need a vast array of responses led by democratic routes

The Covid-19 crisis has laid bare the many shortcomings in our health service, but it’s those at the coalface who understand best what is needed to fix it

Within the first three weeks of Covid-19 vaccines arriving, just 10 per cent found their way to nursing homes, while residents accounted for 37 per cent of all January deaths

Decades of trust are being wiped away in the row over critical vaccine supplies

With the new US president one of the last Irish-American political heavyweights, we must ensure that our relationship with the US is ready for the future, not stuck in the past

Poor planning has beset Ireland’s fight against Covid-19 from the start, and we are still lacking

Ireland needs to be vaccinating upwards of 100,000 people a week but we show no signs of getting close to that figure

Medical professionals under intolerable strain as cases and hospitalisations soar

Somebody didn’t get the finger out in 2020 to make this happen — they better be working 24/7 now to right this wrong

More consistent policing of Covid-19 regulations is needed to control this lethal, mutating virus

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres’ statement that the world is still going in the wrong direction environmentally, despite the commitments made in Paris, evaporated on delivery

The UK Prime Minister continues to ignore all the damage that has already been done – to the Union, to the business community, to his country’s standing in the world and especially to Northern Ireland, which he and his government have treated with contempt

Stark figures act as a flag for every other medical condition that has been ignored, downplayed, downgraded and sidestepped since the pandemic was declared

Scientists know that all new Covid-19 mutations have the potential to transmit even more readily than the existing strain — or may prove resistant to emerging vaccines

We may be weary of the protracted soap opera that is the UK’s exit from the European Union, yet this is the most crucial hour of an act that will shape our economic future

The president-elect will have to draw on his half-century of political experience to deal with issues such as climate change, the economy and Covid-19

The legacy of this US presidency will be felt across the world for years to come

As governments introduce tighter restrictions in the hope of salvaging Christmas, it is becoming ever more apparent that the current approach has a shelf life