How has lockdown affected your mood?
On the anniversary of the first national lockdown, we asked our readers a simple question: how have you been feeling? With a debut for our new interactive tool, we asked Times readers to plot how their happiness, loneliness, anxiety and life satisfaction have fluctuated over the past 12 months. The results were charted alongside the national average courtesy of the weekly Office for National Statistics Opinions and Lifestyle survey.
The 85 lords born to rule
Britain is the only country in the world beside Lesotho to reserve seats in parliament for hereditary peers. In this front page Sunday Times investigation we exposed the truth about the 85 lords entitled to make and vote on legislation because of their birthright.
The findings were stark: they are all male, just under half went to Eton and they own an estimated 175,000 acres of land between them — nearly half the size of Greater London.
They claim more in expenses, but contribute less than the average life peer. When they do speak, they are 60% more likely to talk about their own business and personal interests, from land to tobacco.
We built an interactive that ran front and centre, with readers able to explore the individual histories of the 85 peers and sort them according to five key metrics: age, school, expenses, political party and when their peerage began (with some dating back to the 13th century).
Census 2021: how recording the UK population has changed
In anticipation of the 2021 census, we analysed 220 years of national data collection to bring you a visual guide to Britain’s history. By delving into and categorising 433 questions we were able to depict a country with evolving priorities, social mores and technological capabilities. We combined an interactive scrollytelling template with video animation to bring the forms to life.
Britain set to jab all adults by early June
Working with science correspondent Rhys Blakely we analysed the rate of vaccinations in the UK and across Europe to reveal that all adults would be offered their first jab by early June. Why does it matter? A separate estimate by Dr Katharina Hauck, of Imperial College London, suggests that lockdown costs the UK at least £18 billion a month in GDP. An earlier than expected immunisation date means that the UK vaccination campaign, thought to cost £12 billion, will pay for itself by the end of the summer.
Uni money laundering
We used freedom of information disclosures to establish that at least 49 British universities let students use cash to pay £52 million in student fees over the past five years, including millions from China, India, Russia and Nigeria, sparking money laundering concerns. MPs have subsequently called for these payments to be banned.
Problem solvers
In the first of our new problem solvers series, which meets the pioneers seeking answers to society’s biggest problems, we spoke to the doctors giving new hope to transplant patients by turning previously unusable hearts, kidneys and livers into donor organs that work again.
In the second article in the series, we looked at how technology that sees through the earth could help build cities of the future.
Covid: How busy are hospitals near me?
We analysed NHS data to show the impact the pandemic is having on our hospitals and give readers the chance to see how their trust is coping, from bed occupancy to waiting times.
When will lockdown end?
The speed at which lockdown is eased will be determined by a number of factors, including how effective the vaccine rollout is and how well jabs stop the spread of the virus. We built an interactive slider to allow readers to see how changes in these factors would affect cases, bringing them down to a point where restrictions can be lifted.
Tory rebels
Through analysing thousands of votes from the House of Commons we revealed that the most rebellious Conservative MP of this government is….David Davis. We uncovered that the majority of Tories have voted against their party at least once, and that 23 have done so at least ten times.
100,000 deaths
As Britain reached a toll that seemed unimaginable at the start of the crisis, we analysed the 100,000 Covid deaths and spoke to clerics, health leaders and the bereaved who warned that the staggering human cost must not be forgotten.
Where can you get the vaccine?
To help readers locate their closest vaccination centre we built a tool that showed them the sites near them and how long it would take to drive to the nearest one.
German aristocrat and cannabis firms given PPE contracts
Contracts disclosed by 40 hospital authorities after freedom of information requests exposed the businesses with little experience of providing medical supplies paid millions by NHS trusts to supply personal protective equipment to staff.
One Midlands hospital trust bought masks and a disinfecting machine from a German aristocrat who spread a Covid-19 conspiracy theory on Facebook. A lingerie firm who donated money to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign also received a contract.
