Futility of boots and guns in a pandemic
THERE’S an old saying, of unknown origin but popularised by Mark Twain: ‘There are lies, damn lies … and statistics’. Each day in this world of pandemic we are bombarded by figures and graphs. They […]
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A tale of four countries in a time of lockdown: part six
Sheffield Maybe if we were to take down all the road signs, the virus would find it harder to get about? (John Crace’s Twitter response to the government’s change of approach, 10 May 2020) ‘STAY […]
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Militaristic response to crisis
SOUTH Africans woke up on Friday March 27 to the grim realisation that they are again living in a police state. A nondescript government whose norm is irrationality has chosen a threatening, militaristic response rather […]
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Blame lies with an authoritarian China
FAMINES, according to the renowned economist Amartya Sen, do not happen in functioning democracies. Nor do epidemics. There has been no better illustration of this than the Covid-19 pandemic that could become a turning point […]
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A tale of four countries in a time of lockdown: part five
Sheffield WHILE humans altered everything on the face of the world, these birds kept believing in a map that never changed (from Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, 2018) One of the restorative parts of my daily […]
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A tale of four countries in a time of lockdown: part four
Sheffield I HAD established a generally happy routine in my ‘semi-retirement’ over the last two years. It contained very predictable blocks of time, providing structure to the week, the rest being open to choice and […]
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A creeping coup in South Africa?
SOUTH Africa is currently run by big fat people with guns and an attitude to match. Seeing pictures of a casspir entering a Cape Town township, an entire wedding arrested in KwaZulu-Natal, and heavily armed […]
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A tale of four countries in a time of lockdown: part three
Sheffield PROFESSOR Anthony Costello forecasts 40 000 deaths and the highest death rate in Europe, and the Sunday Times (19 April 2020) features an article ‘Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster’. We were […]
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A tale of four countries in a time of lockdown: part two
Sheffield I LIVE on a side street off one of the major arterial roads in Sheffield, this particular bit being a hub of bars, cafes and restaurants. It is a Sheffield thing to ‘go down […]
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A tale of four countries in a time of lockdown: part one
Sheffield A SMALL wooden crate appeared on my doorstep, packed full of goods from my local organic fruit and veg shop. It was exciting unpacking and finding everything I’d asked for, plus some extras – […]