The 2022 Holiday Special

How many metro lines does the UK outside London have?

As you read this, I am somewhere by the sea and a very long way from a laptop, and – despite a brief flurry of excitement on Monday that this might finally be the week I needed to finish that political obituary that’s lain half-written in my notes since January – likely to remain that way.

All of which means that I am writing this newsletter a bit in adv…