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Hello and welcome to The Spectator Out Loud podcast, where every week a few of our writers read out their pieces from the magazine.

This week we're going to be joined by Dr Simon Clark, who writes about why the Pfizer vaccine may not be the miracle fix that we've all been hoping for.

We also hear from Simon Barnes

about the history of the once humble, now troublesome, mink.

And finally, picking olives during Donald Trump's downfall,

Jeremy Clark tells the story of his election night.

First, Simon Clark.

After a difficult nine months, we are naturally sick of lockdowns and other COVID restrictions.

Everyone misses parts of their pre-coronavirus lives, from seeing friends and family to pubs and restaurants, to the theatre and concerts, and yes, even our workplaces.

It was therefore no surprise that this week's news of a vaccine breakthrough was widely applauded. It is human nature, after all,

to cling to things that give us hope, hope that was encouraged by leading scientists such as Sir John

Bell. After the Pfizer news broke, the Oxford professor was asked

on BBC radio whether we would be returning to normal by spring. His response, yes, yes, yes. This was when

Harry met Sally moment that proved to be music to the ears of millions of Britons. However, as a microbiologist who

has worked on vaccine discovery, I struggle to see how, despite this very welcome leap, we can

possibly be back to normal by spring. For starters, what quantity of vaccine is needed to return

life to normal? Well, we don't know, according to Matt Hancock. He's right to be

cautious because we still don't know how effective the vaccine will be in its initial target demographic,

care home residents and staff. All we know so far is that it can protect some people for seven

days after the second shot.

There is no evidence yet of long-term immunity.

...