Margaret Atwood: Pandemic lockdowns aren't the same as dystopian societies

Novelist Margaret Atwood has told BBC 5 Live she doesn’t believe the Covid-19 pandemic is the same as living in a dystopian society.

Speaking to 5 Live’s Emma Barnett, The Handmaid’s Tale author said the pandemic was not “a deliberate totalitarianism and isn’t a deliberate arrangement” so it does not fit the definition of dystopia.

She also predicts there will be an increased appreciation for the National Health Service for “as long as we can remember” the pandemic.