‘Is this the worst bit?’ I find myself asking that question every two or three weeks

The question might be prompted by some news event – the highest daily rise in Covid cases for weeks, let’s say – or it might just be because the sun disappeared behind the clouds and everything feels a little grey. As I sit here, writing this, it feels like this is a bad bit. Probably not the worst bit – but bad all the same. It feels like we have entered a sort of empty...