Book excerpt: You can use this Annual Update for tasks throughout your course and for help with examination questions. - Review all the developments relevant to A-level specifications in UK politics from the last year, with examples linked closely to specification points, strong links between topics and focused suggestions for further reading - Develop your confidence with expert analysis you can draw on both throughout your course and in the exams - Enhance your knowledge of the news to build a bank of up-to-date examples linked to the specifications, helping you to develop persuasive arguments for your essays - Learn more about the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other up-to-date political developments, and how to put them into context Table of contents: UK update 2021 1. Legitimacy and the lockdown: from health crisis to democratic crisis? 2. The Black Lives Matter movement: pressure, protest and controversy 3. Individual and collective rights: civil liberties campaigns in the 2020s 4. Political parties in the 2020s: funding, fairness and the future 5. Influence of the media: Is the BBC biased and does it matter? 6. Devolution and health crisis 7. The House of Lords: too big, too partisan and time for change? 8. What impact did the health crisis have on the relationship between parliament and the executive? 9. Controlling the health crisis: how effective was Boris Johnson in dictating events and determining policy?