Nightclubs, Covid, politics and the very latest reviews

"When the Covid pandemic first began to wreak havoc, historians understandably looked to the past for guidance. Would this contemporary crisis be akin to the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919? Diarmaid Ferriter says it would be a mistake not to reflect on the trauma caused by the pandemic.

The rationale behind the Government's decision to order the midnight closure of nightclubs defeated a lot of observers on the first night of its imposition. Ronan McGreevy joined clubbers in Dublin city centre on Thursday night.

"As a youngster," wrote Ernie O'Malley from a Dublin prison in 1923, "I had the inborn hate of things English, which I expect all Irishmen inherit." Richard English reviews Harry Martin and Cormac O'Malley's well-told account of a complex character.

"I live in a different country from my family, which means my long-term partner hasn't met them yet thanks to the pandemic and the big whack of ocean between us." Brianna Parkins on how her Irish partner is about to meet her "mad-as-cut-snakes" Australian family.

Politics podcast: Once again, too many people are getting sick, and there aren't enough hospital beds. The Government is struggling to come up with a convincing plan to turn the Covid-19 situation around. Jack Horgan-Jones and Jennifer Bray on what the thinking is about how to tackle the crisis and how the latest reimposition of restrictions on nightlife and extension of the use of vaccine certs came about.

Kids these days don't know what it's like to go on an epic quest because a wandering wizard has come to their village warning of a dark power rising. Patrick Freyne reviews Amazon Prime's The Wheel of Time.

Author John Boyne's latest novel The Echo Chamber explores some of the extremes of social media. While humorous exaggeration abounds, the book has a serious message. Joe Humphreys on how new technology may give the impression your mind is no longer your own.

Jane Campion's latest film is not really a western, but if it were it would be one of those that – among other business – marks the final shift from residual frontier to something like civilisation. Donald Clarke reviews The Power of the Dog.

Pamela Paul must be one of the last subscribers to the branch of Netflix that allows its users to see films via the Stone Age practice of receiving DVDs in the post. John Harris on Pamela Paul's 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet.