What the papers said in the week ending August 22
The main narrative remains the ongoing national and international crisis arising from the Covid-19 Pandemic, with competing themes focusing on environmental matters. Other items of interest and importance are finding some space.
Covid-19
The wish to return to normality is encountering injury as relaxation of rules and discipline has already led to increased rates of infection in many countries: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/17/global-report-alarm-over-covid-case-rates-19-european-countries
- The increased infection rates are mostly linked to the activities of young men. The death rates do not seem to be rising as dramatically as they did when the virus first showed itself – killing mainly older and vulnerable people. Strategies to protect them may have been learned
- Conflict and blame attributed to wrong decisions are widespread, but interpretation is not always easy. Sweden’s delay introducing restrictions on social behaviour led to higher infection rates and death rates than occurred in other Nordic counties, but Sweden still performed better than the UK, Spain and Italy. What were the comparative impacts on economies? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/17/swedens-covid-19-strategist-under-fire-over-herd-immunity-emails
But a bit of science is telling us that singing quietly is probably no more hazardous in spreading droplets than is talking: we might yet have our hymns https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/20/performers-could-sing-or-play-softly-to-reduce-covid-risk-study-shows
Associations
Some countries are judged to have handled the crisis better than others:
- analysis suggests that having a female leader who is known to read fiction is a good idea: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/18/female-led-countries-handled-coronavirus-better-study-jacinda-ardern-angela-merkel
- https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/16/fiction-readers-made-best-leaders-in-covid-19-crisis-val-mcdermid-edinburgh
The UK Governments decision to do away with Public Health England and fuse its responsibilities into a new ‘National Institute for Health Protection’, has not been well received. Nor has the government’s choice of the Chair of this new authority, and the way that she has been appointed https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/18/the-guardian-view-on-scrapping-public-health-england-not-just-wrong-but-highly-risky
The firms employed at great expense to trace contacts of people with Covid-19 have not been performing well, failing to find 54% of contacts https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/outsourced-firms-miss-46-of-covid-test-contacts-in-englands-worst-hit-areas
Suffering during the Covid crisis
- Reports of domestic abuse are not getting fewer: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/17/domestic-abuse-surged-in-lockdown-panorama-investigation-finds-coronavirus
- Rates of depression have doubled on average – Highest in young people (up to 30%) and least in over 70s (up to 10%) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/18/depression-in-british-adults-doubles-during-coronavirus-crisis
- Despite attempts to combat homelessness, more people have been without homes: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/18/reports-of-rough-sleeping-in-uk-rose-sharply-during-lockdown
The World Bank recognises the gravity of the situation internationally and suggests an extension of financial support to poorer countries: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/19/world-bank-calls-for-greater-debt-relief-for-poorer-countries-in-wake-of-covid-19
New life styles in Covid
- People are adopting dogs for the company and exercise – Good ideas but there are worries that this is not always well planned and may not work out well: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/16/coronavirus-lockdown-surge-puppy-ownership-uk
- Another odd decision by the UK government is encouraging people to eat out by promising to meet half the bill. This is a perk which is most likely to be to the advantage of people who can afford such a luxury. It may have little impact on the clientele of Foodbanks. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/18/eat-out-help-out-35m-meals-claimed-discounted-coronavirus
- People are watching webcam footage of marine animals as an approach to gain peace of mind – blood pressure and heart rate fall
- A new generation of board games has risen in popularity: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/22/strategy-board-games-to-help-you-escape-covid
- Turtles in Thailand have been reclaiming beaches abandoned by tourists: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/21/thailand-turtle-hatchlings-finally-have-the-beach-to-themselves-aoe
The environment
- Extreme temperatures are being recorded, with associated risks to health, crops and infrastructure:
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/17/death-valley-temperature-rises-to-544c-possibly-the-hottest-ever-reliably-recorded#:~:text=A%20temperature%20of%2054.4C,reliably%20recorded%20on%20the%20planet.
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/17/uk-facing-worst-wheat-harvest-since-1980s-national-farmers-union-nfu
- Unplanned accumulation of plastic waste is hazardous, and worse than previously understood: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/18/atlantic-ocean-plastic-more-than-10-times-previous-estimates
- Ice is disappearing from Greenland: https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/greenland-ice-sheet-lost-a-record-1m-tonnes-of-ice-per-minute-in-2019#:~:text=New%20satellite%20data%20shows%20that,the%20annual%20average%20since%202003.
Coal mines have all-but disappeared from England:
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/16/one-of-uk-last-coal-mines-to-close-near-durham-bradley
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/22/journeys-end-last-of-englands-open-cast-mines-begins-final-push
Which should be good news for the environment, but sees the end of a long and important heritage
The churches
In the headlines:
- Churches in South Korea are blamed for increased rates of Covid infections: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/18/south-korea-warns-it-is-on-brink-of-new-covid-crisis-as-church-linked-to-outbreak-seoul
- Characters from C S Lewis Chronicles of Narnia are being reproduced in stone for St Mary’s Church in Beverley https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/19/yorkshire-church-adorned-chronicles-of-narnia-carvings-st-marys-beverley
The article about this this gave some opportunity for comment on the church in general – and The White Rabbit, who is already a resident of St Mary’s https://www.newscabal.co.uk/the-bias-of-blessings-that-are-blind-to-love-letters/
Pot-pourri
Fabulous Jewish manuscripts to be displayed when the British Library reopens, include magic spells: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/18/spellbook-forms-part-of-exhibition-of-hebrew-works-at-british-library
Concern that the future will see many more older women who have remained childless – perhaps because of education and work opportunities – but it may leave them vulnerable and dependent:
Will self-driving cars be a boom to older drivers? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/aug/18/self-driving-cars-allowed-motorways-industry-risk
A very small ant eating creature has been found in the Horn of Africa after a fifty year absence – never give up! https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/18/tiny-elephant-shrew-species-missing-for-50-years-rediscovered
Relatively modest gardens are celebrated: https://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/news/national/18665849.treasured-post-war-gardens-sites-listed-protection/
Single dose of intra-operative radiotherapy proves as effective as 30 in the treatment of breast cancer: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/19/one-shot-radiotherapy-as-good-for-breast-cancer-as-longer-course
Scratches on stones are revealed as very early art: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/19/engraved-stones-found-on-jersey-an-art-form-of-15000-years-ago
Honey is more effective than many modern treatments in the suppression of upper respiratory track symptoms https://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/07/28/bmjebm-2020-111336?rss=1. Wouldn’t it be good if a natural old fashioned remedy could help with Covid-19
Obituaries of wonderful people there are every week but two stand out this week:
- Bernard Steigler whose first claims to fame came from his career as a bank robber in France,. He then educated himself in prison and became an influential philosopher. Utterly suspicious of the digital age and its influence on humanity, he wanted to help us remain true to ourselves and not to submit to algorithms. (In the very week when biased algorithms applied to educational awards have caused to much pain and disturbance – his stance has special resonance). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/18/bernard-stiegler-obituary
- Archie Young was a modest yet charismatic Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He taught us that even older people can regain muscle strength by sensible exercise – and as for muscles, so for other bodily functions. Not all downhill. Yet some pathology has a way of its own – His last years were taken by Lewy Body disease. Archie Young obituary
David Jolley
