#and apparently there's been an epidemic in neighbouring countries???

[vro0m]

Saw my retired pneumologist of an uncle yesterday and he said "is your bronchitis better?" and I said "yes I've almost entirely stopped coughing" and he said "ah good I was worried it was the whooping cough"

???????????

[thegold59]

Swedish Empiricism in the COVID-19 struggle: Eccentricity or Enlightenment?

Sweden, what gives? We’re right in the throes of the most dangerous and scary pandemic since 1968. Yes, everyone, don’t forget “Hong Kong” flu which killed a million people in 1968, though dwarfed by the 50-100,000,000 people killed in 1918-1920’s “Spanish” flu pandemic. Noting by the way that only fools these days insist on using “national” origin titles for epidemics. So this is definitely not Wuhan disease. With those forebears, why don’t you take all of this carnage a little more seriously? Were you asleep for Ebola (2014-2016) as well? We’re all in lock down now (well, mostly), while you seem to be sauntering and sashaying along with what appears to be blissful Scandinavian insouciance. So, again, Sweden, what gives?

As of today, 6th April 2020, barely four months into this COVID-19 cataclysm, we have 51,608 people infected in the UK (based solely on hospital screening) and have seen 5,373 deaths. Both figures are unfortunately likely to rise very substantially while also being seriously inaccurate - on the one hand, only screening the sickest in a situation where we know 25% of people who interact with the virus have no symptoms means that probably for every one person screened under current circumstances in the UK, there are 99 others with the virus. And on the other hand, with the deaths, well, there are about 15,000 deaths per week in the UK from a wide variety of causes, so the much smaller number of true COVID-19 deaths will be hard to take account of. Indeed, dying WITH not OF COVID-19 is how it is officially described.

In Sweden, again, on 6th April 2020, there have been 7,206 people who have screened positive for the virus, and 477 deaths with it. When you adjust for the population difference between the two countries (66 millions versus 10 millions, approximately), there is not so great a difference between us. In both countries, field hospitals are being constructed to cope with additional patients requiring medical attention. Mortuaries are being primed to respond.

In the UK we now have unprecedented measures being taken to restrict our ability to live, move, work and play. We have to work at home, if at all possible. We must keep a “social distancing” distance between us - 2 metres is currently much in vogue it seems. We can only go out of our houses once a day, for a heavily prescribed list of activities. Pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants were all closed over a fortnight ago.

These UK measures were rushed into being following a lightening policy volte face - from “herd immunity” being the previously preferred approach. On March 13th 2020 it was said that “if the risks of COVID-19 were not too high, it would technically be possible to bring about herd immunity by allowing the disease to run rampant through a population”. By 25th March we had arrived at the implementation of an set of extreme measures of mitigation, following some population outcome modelling by Imperial College London academics published on 16th March 2020: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf.  See diagram 1. 

To have achieved herd immunity, each infected person must, on average, infect less than one person when averaged out. Once the transmission rate drops below one, a community can be thought of as having achieved herd immunity. That won’t stop each and every case, but it will prevent the disease from spreading indefinitely. Many of our lessons on herd immunity come from the measles, because it's so contagious. The more infectious a disease is, the more people who need to be immune to reach herd immunity. One person with measles, for instance, could infect up to 18 other people in a susceptible population. To get that transmission rate all the way down to less than one, almost everyone in the population needs to act as a buffer between an infected person and a new potential host. That’s why measles needs such a high rate of herd immunity—around 95 percent. Research so far suggests that the coronavirus has a much lower infection rate than measles, with each infected person passing it on to two or three new people, on average. This means that herd immunity should be achieved when around 60 percent of the population becomes immune to COVID-19.

In France, by the way, the impositions (following their own similar projections) have been even more draconian, with official certification needed to explain one’s presence outdoors, and extensive fines for those flouting these rules. Many other countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Americas have seen similar serious erosion of civil liberties, often but not always underpinned by some enabling legislation, and enforced by the police and other authorities. In China, Russia, and other totalitarian dictatorships, artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and state surveillance have been retooled and repurposed. The negative impact on the global economy of these measures will be at least as great as that of the Great Depression of 1929. It may spell the end of the Euro-zone. The eye-watering debt levels of some countries already thoroughly beggared by debt (step forwards and take a bow, Italy, France, Japan, USA) will at best take many generations to pay off.

So, is the remarkable battery of criticism leveled against Sweden actually justified right now? And how much of an outlier really are they?

Sweden is suddenly a punching bag on social media, and indeed, perhaps in a more balanced fashion, in much of the more mainstream press and commentaries. What did the normally placid, reliable, Swedes do to so torment the Twitter sphere and provoke the press?

Sweden, unlike its European neighbours and (by now) most US states, has declined to take a hard-line approach to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Instead of instituting mass shutdowns and ramping up policing, Sweden has responded with a far lighter touch. Note - it HAS done many things, but, it has not (yet) gone as far as many other nations have. Mind you, we should be careful of straying too far into economic forecasting: When JK Galbraith (author of a bestselling book on the Wall Street crash of 1929) observed that 'the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable', he was using humour to make the point that economics is not a science. Epidemiology is somewhat more deeply rooted than that.

People in this Swedish nation of 10 million still visit libraries and pools, which remain open. People can be found sipping IPAs in restaurants and bars, though public gatherings are now limited to 50 people (down from 500). Skiing in Åre is now prohibited. Children still get up and go to elementary schools in the morning, although students over 16 have been encouraged to school at home, and Universities are shut. The government has also asked people to wash their hands frequently, encouraged remote work, asked people to keep apart from one another  - no distance specified, and such an exhortation is as necessary in Sweden as would be instructions to eat pasta in Italy, or drink red wine in France! Finally, people who are over 70 have been asked to self-isolate, and people of all ages have been asked to self-isolate if they feel ill. Asked. Not told, ordered, instructed. Asked.

Essentially, instead of closing its economy, national leaders have asked its citizens to limit the spread of COVID-19 another way: by taking responsibility for their own actions, and help support their fellow citizens and the state in its battle.

"There are a few critical times in life when you must make sacrifices, not just for your own sake, but also for those around you, for your fellow human beings and for our country. That time is now," Prime Minister Stefan Löfven urged his people at the end of March 2020.

Needless to say, Sweden’s approach to the coronavirus has created a bit of stir. After all, the world’s economy has largely been crushed by government shutdowns and tens of millions have been put out of work. Who are these Swedes to think they know a better way? Arrogant? Foolish? Dancing their way towards death?

Which brings us back to Twitter. In recent days, influencers have begun to assert that Sweden is receiving its comeuppance. A case of premature schadenfreude from my perspective. Maybe there’s a club or self-help group for that?

“Sweden took a laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 while their neighbours shut down public life and sealed the borders,” one Manhattan Institute scholar observed on Twitter. “It looks like we're finally seeing the results.” [this comment tweeted just as the immense and growing impact of COVID-19 on the USA has become all too apparent]:

Data guru Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of the influential statistics site FiveThirtyEight, also claimed that Sweden was “paying the price” for its laissez-faire approach to the coronavirus.

Sweden took a laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 while their neighbours shut down public life and sealed the borders. It looks like we're finally seeing the results. (Graph is cumulative deaths: Sweden yellow, Denmark red, Norway blue; screenshot from /r/Denmark) pic.twitter.com/Jg1qfqo1Ei

— Connor Harris (@cmhrrs) March 30, 2020

Three European countries that took a laissez-faire, "herd immunity' approach to coronavirus early on, the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden, are paying the price for it. They reported, respectively, 563, 134 and 59 deaths today. https://t.co/9fFIJJjqhz

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 1, 2020

Sweden’s gambit was naturally going to invite reproach, re-probation and recrimination from an audience primed to cast stones. Humans may say they value non-conformity, but Voltaire was probably right when he observed the world does not.

“Our wretched species,” the noted French philosopher wrote, “is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”

But do the data actually support the conclusion that Sweden’s leaders are getting people killed by not enforcing mass lock-downs? For now, that remains unclear, but there is no convincing evidence I can find to make that charge stick.

Now, any serious discussion on COVID-19 should be prefaced by noting that the data we have right now are incomplete, fluid, and mortally flawed. That said, bakers must use the ingredients they have. And right now, the data show that Sweden has one of the better infection fatality rates in Europe.

First, it makes little sense simply to compare aggregate deaths in Sweden to those in Denmark, Finland, and Norway, since Sweden has nearly double the population of those three countries. If we look at per capita figures*, we’ll see that Sweden currently has a death/1M population rate of 40/1M. (This means that, according to the best data we have, Sweden has suffered around 40 deaths for every one million residents - the UK rate today is about 55/M).

That rate is indeed higher than Denmark, Norway and Finland, which have rates of 24/1M, 11/1M, and 6/1M respectively, some of the best in Europe. However, data also show that Sweden’s fatality rate is actually much better than many of its European neighbors, including: France (100/1M), Switzerland (68/1M), Spain 234/1M, Italy (243/1M), Belgium (99/1M), the Netherlands (87/1M), the UK (55/1M), and Luxembourg (50/1M) - all based on 3rd or 4th April data.

In his tweet, Silver compared Sweden (and the UK and the Netherlands) to the USA, which at that time had one of the better fatality rates in the world (21/1M). The US of course started late to the party but is galloping ahead as fast as it possibly can to become “America First” in terms of total cases, and overall fatalities. He also conveniently leaves out nations such as Belgium, France, Spain, and of course Italy—which have some of the worst fatality rates in the world and were also among the first to go into lock-down to try to counter the melee-inducing miasma.

At present, it is fair to say that there’s not yet sufficient evidence to say that Sweden’s laissez-faire approach has been a failure. Or that it has been a success. We need three more months to pass by before we can see how this played out.  We are unlikely to know the results of Sweden’s experiment—encouraging social responsibility instead of issuing government threats and force—for 12 weeks, if not longer. It’s possible the experiment will be a total disaster and cost many lives. It’s possible, perhaps even likely if deaths continue to rise, that Swedish political leaders will lose faith in the approach, and institute a more hard-line approach

However, the longer life in Sweden remains relatively normal—kids in schools, adults in pubs, an economy pumping on most cylinders while people take sensible precautions—without an explosion of deaths akin to those witnessed in Italy and Spain, the more we should be encouraged by, and supportive of, Sweden, not angrily and petulantly dismissive of its “temerity” and “naivity” in thinking for itself. Anders Tegnell - the State Epidemiologist - has been strongly identified with the current policies - a God-like figure in Sweden, revered and respected in a way no current politician could be. Graffiti currently show this ripely comedic phrase: All makt åt Tegnell, vår befriare. And politicians follow his advice to the letter, at least so far they have done, in part because of the complexities of the Swedish constitution meaning ruling by decree is hard to achieve, and also because of the consensus-driven coalition politics. Of course, there are other opinions, and substantial academic push-back has occurred in Sweden against the Tegnell approach.

Sweden has 10 million people, it is a huge country geographically (at 450,295 km² Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area), with only a few major areas of population density (Malmo, Goteborg and Stockholm) – see Diagram 2 below, displaying population density and travel hub data. 

People tend to be calm, measured, thoughtful and “obedient” in terms of reasonable requests by authorities; others might say they are also complacent, with a stable society and economy they have grown comfortable with, and accustomed to. Swedes tend to trust central government (they can rightly be healthily skeptical) rather than reject information automatically. Over 50% of Swedish households are single member ones. Most Swedes move out of the parental home aged 18-20 years of age. They embrace national identity numbers, novel technological approaches to commerce (cash largely being replaced by “Swish”-ing money between accounts), and have been in the forefront of voluntary micro-chipping (Evolution, Revolution, and the New Man: An ethnographic investigation into the constitution of the body and the self among microchipping communities in Sweden. Orlowski EJW. MSc Thesis, UCL, 2019 https://ejworlowski.com/). They have not been at war since 1814. Their last insurrection resulted in just 5 deaths, in 1931 (https://libcom.org/history/adalen-shootings-sweden-1931). If ever there were a reasonably ideal set-up to try to encourage not enforce societal changes, then Sweden is that place.

At its simplest, the major reason for the widespread “panic” measures to “shift the curve” in so many countries is the desperation of knowing that there are not enough hospital beds, ventilators, nurses and doctors to cope with a surge of people with virally-induced respiratory collapse (as clearly shown in the diagram). There's really no excuse for that lamentable, criminal, lack of preparedness. If in Sweden their local projections do not show this potential outcome, then avoiding a heavy-handed and largely economically-irreversible intervention designed to shift the curve seems only prudent. Moreover, as there is no current anti-viral medicine, no matter how much special advocacy we may hear from Professor Trump, and no vaccine for at least 18 months. Thus we need to understand that only nature can currently inoculate the population which brings us right back to the “herd immunity” concept we discussed earlier on. As the case fatality rate will likely emerge to be 0.5% (1 in 200 infections) by the end of the year, this natural immunity can likely safely be achieved by natural exposure without massive mortality ensuing. Imposing draconian lock-downs is one thing, but removing them (a “way out”) is highly vexed, without knowing reliably who is infected, infectious or immune. We cannot do that right now. Tegnell rightly says this is the difference between the tortoise (Sweden) and the hare (most of the rest of us) - this virus will spread into the population, and we will become immune (at least to this strain of the virus) - this will happen everywhere, maybe sooner, maybe later. But the economic devastation will not be the same. In the fable, the tortoise won the race while the hare ended up as a Winter stew.

If such a scenario does come to pass, that Sweden’s more measured approach is shown to be successful, then it should also precipitate some serious soul searching elsewhere. Why was the world so quick to employ force and the threat of force to impose mass shutdowns? Bold actions, yes, with the siren call to be seen to be doing something significant, but sometimes fools rush in where angels fear to tread. No plan survives contact with the enemy was the advice of the great German miltiary leader Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (Paraphrased in The Swordbearers : Studies in Supreme Command in the First World War (1963) by Correlli Barnett, p. 35) - apposite, as politicians – few of whom have ever served at the front line of more than a coffee chain - the world over currently vie with one another to use military metaphors to characterise their efforts.

There’s a tendency to believe that free markets and cooperation work, except in difficult or “complex” situations that call for more assertive means (code for a reflex instinctive authoritarian grab of liberties and rights). Leonard Edward Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, which was one of the first modern libertarian institutions of its kind in the United States, saw flaws in such thinking.

“The more complex the economy, society, or situation”, Read observed, “the more we should rely on the miraculous, self-adapting processes of men acting freely.”

Sweden has set out on a bespoke calibrated response path, as is its inalienable right as a sovereign nation. It is different from some other nations. This is not to my knowledge a competition, nor some sort of deathathon. There are specific reasons for their choices which can be justified, and should be defended. We should wish Sweden well, as we would want them to wish us well in our own different national struggles against this common malevolent foe.

David Goldsmith, MD, London 6th April 2020

Acknowledgements:

(1)   Eric Orlowski, London

(2)   This blog post is based on the articles https://fee.org/articles/could-sweden-s-laissez-faire-approach-to-the-coronavirus-actually-work/ and

(3)    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/03/uk-backed-off-on-herd-immunity-to-beat-coronavirus-we-need-it/

3113 Words

[wolfliving]

Hong Kong Overtourism

*Plus riots and epidemics.

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/02/15/hongkongers-prejudice-mainlanders-theres-politics-virus

(...)

In the year of the Handover, Hong Kong only received 2.36 million visitors from all around the world, a paltry number compared with the recent 50 million visitors a year from China alone, and records of nearly 4 million Chinese coming in a single month to our tiny city-state of 7 million.

The unnatural amount of human traffic in our city has created so much friction that irreparable damage has already been done to the once relatively amicable relationship between Hongkongers and mainlanders. Once again, a political decision that we had no control over has come between the two neighbouring peoples.

Aside from the usual resentments locals may feel in any already densely-populated destination that becomes a tourist magnet (Barcelona, Venice…), Hongkongers have a deeper fear of increased mainland visitors, in particular, owing to our unique relationship with China.

Photo: Jennifer Creery/HKFP.

Any urban-dwelling local like myself could tell you that the sheer number of mainland tourists in the city at any one time is overwhelming. Within a very short period, they have been able to change the culture of our streets, our businesses and even our cuisine forever with their collective spending power.

With the example of Tibetans being outnumbered by ethnic Chinese in their own homeland due to systematic mass migration programmes, Hongkongers are now haunted by a threat of cultural genocide, reflected clearly in the city’s growing sympathy for the Tibetan cause.

Hong Kong people’s resistance to mainland Chinese cannot be simply classed as racism or any straightforward xenophobia towards those from a poorer country. If anything, it is more comparable to the distrust shown those in many ex-USSR nations towards mounting Russian migration over their borders.

Of course, these fears cannot justify discrimination towards mainlanders. But it is undeniable that government policies devised without our consent have been responsible for the deterioration of our friendship with Chinese people. And this trend will continue as Chief Executive Carrie Lam ignores popular demands to impose a full ban on any visitors arriving from China (of any nationality).

When it is so apparent that Hong Kong’s puppet government will always put Chinese interests before ours, many grow more bitter and resistant to anything associated with China. While Hongkongers recount terrifying memories of mainlanders spitting loudly on the streets right after SARS on local forums, thousands of people continue to pour across the border daily, as a new virus is developing. The future for the relationship between Hong Kong people and mainland Chinese looks gloomier than ever.

[ezhilmozhi]

Support The Caravan

We cannot do this without you. We investigate powerful people, uncover scams, hold governments to account and report hard facts on conflicts and crises, all because we are independent of any outside interests. And since we answer to nobody but you, our readers, we need your support to keep our journalism alive.

COMMENTARY HEALTH

Uncritical support for Modi paved the way for India’s COVID-19 crisis

VIDYA KRISHNAN

28 April 2021



A man wearing personal protective equipment runs past burning funeral pyres during a mass cremation of COVID-19 casualties at a crematorium in Delhi, on 26 April 2021. The next day, India recorded 3,286 deaths, its highest number of COVID-19 fatalities so far, taking the total number of deaths in the country since the start of the pandemic to 201,187. 

ADNAN ABIDI / REUTERS



India is a veritable chamber of horrors right now. Every day appears to mark a new record-highest number of daily cases, with the country witnessing 3,52,991 new COVID-19 cases and 2,812 deaths on 25 April. Patients are dying due to a lack of oxygen in hospitals—at least 24 patients died in a hospital in Nashik, in Maharashtra, on 21 April, and another 25 died in Delhi, the national capital, two days later. The next day, on 24 April, the solicitor general Tushar Mehta lied to the Supreme Court that the central government had “ensured that nobody in the country was left without oxygen.” Meanwhile, oxygen tankers are being blocked by state governments, and people have resorted to looting cylinders. This medical horror unfolding in the country was inevitable, given the leaders and the ideologies that India chose for herself.

It is also an experience of déjà vu. In August 2017, over 60 new-born babies, with chests the size of an adult human’s palm, died in less a week in a district hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, led by the chief minister Ajay Singh Bisht—more commonly known as Adityanath—denied that the deaths were a result of a shortage of oxygen, and maintains this narrative till date. A paediatrician at the hospital, Kafeel Khan, had accused the state government of not paying the hospital’s oxygen supplier, which led to the shortage and the deaths.

The state then arrested Khan and led a farcical investigation against him, as evidenced in the order releasing him on bail and the departmental inquiry absolving him of negligence. But the state did not conduct post-mortem examinations of the infants, did not hand over their medical records to their families, and sought to erase its negligence. As if the injustice did not matter until it was provable on paper. This greed and cruelty normalised under the BJP leadership is cancerous, and the scale at which it has infected the country is on display during this ongoing second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government has taken the difficult task of organising a pandemic response in a poor country like India and made it impossible. In April last year, after the pandemic hit India, the Modi administration extended a brutal lockdown without consulting the nation’s top scientists, adding an economic as well as humanitarian crisis to the medical emergency. As I reported for The Caravan earlier this month, the prime minister did not consult the national taskforce of India’s leading scientists in February and March this year either, despite the surge in cases.

After imposing the lockdown, Modi then invoked a draconian colonial-era law, the Epidemics Act of 1897—enacted during the bubonic plague of 1896—that focuses not on controlling the disease, but on cracking down on its subjects and suspending civil liberties. The Modi administration, of course, presented a narrative that it was using the law only in instances where healthcare workers had been targeted. As noted previously in The Caravan, the centre did not, however, enact several better legislations introduced the previous year that sought to protect healthcare workers.

Current Issue

April 2021



The lockdown, Indians were told, was to flatten the curve. Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary in the union health ministry, had stated shortly after that a Rs 15,000-crore package by the centre would be used for, among other things, “building resilient national and state health systems for future disease outbreaks.” But tenders for oxygen plants were not released till October 2020—eight months into the pandemic. That month, the centre issued tenders for 150 oxygen plants. As of April 2021, only 33 of them have been set up.

As India suffered its most devastating COVID-19 surge, its political parties and leaders—including Modi and his top lieutenant, the home minister Amit Shah—spent the last month focussed on an ongoing, eight-phased, gruelling blood sport of an election in West Bengal. The prime minister boasted of the large rallies he commanded—and gleefully catcalled the state’ incumbent chief minister Mamata Banerjee during one of them—with no apparent concern about the pandemic still ravaging the country. The polling in West Bengal began on 27 March. Within two weeks, the state recorded its highest-ever single-day spike with 5,892 new cases recorded on 14 April. Eleven days later, the state recorded 15,889 cases, and its capital city of Kolkata reported a positivity rate of approximately 50 percent.



On 21 March, amid the rising second wave, India's national dailies saw full-page ads in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited people to attend the Maha Kumbh in Uttarakhand.

Modi’s apparent lack of concern about the pandemic did not stop at electioneering. On 21 March, India’s national dailies showed a front-page full-size advertisement showing Modi and the Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat welcoming devotees to the Maha Kumbh, a weeks-long Hindu religious festival. The previous day, Rawat had proclaimed, “Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.” Devotees attended in the millions, and soon began testing positive by the thousands. On 1 April, the day the super-spreader event began, the state recorded a total of 1,863 cases. On 26 April, it recorded 35,864 cases.

Contribute

The more you can help,

the more we can do

Support The Caravan

CONTRIBUTE

The pervasive grief felt by Indian citizens is only matched by the knowledge that they are on their own. On 20 April, in his first national broadcast after the onset of the second COVID-19 wave in the country, the prime minister appeared to confirm this knowledge without any sense of irony. “I request young colleagues to create small committees in their societies, localities and apartments and help others in following the COVID discipline,” Modi said. “If we do this, then governments will not need to create containment zones, impose curfew or lockdown.” The prime minister did little to explain or reassure the citizens about what his government was doing to help them.

As Modi noted in his address, without acknowledging his own failure, Indian citizens have come together to save themselves. All across social-media platforms and WhatsApp groups, users are inundated with desperate requests and leads to find their own oxygen cylinders, medications, tele-consult with doctors, and find a hospital bed. To the best of their availabilities, they respond with leads, noting the date and time that the information was verified. But as citizens discover with alarming regularity, there are no beds, no medicines, and no hospitals. There are no hearse vans to carry the dead to the graveyards. There is no wood to burn the pyres.

India's failed pandemic response is an inevitable consequence of the blind support, over two elections, to the anti-intellectual government led by Modi and the BJP.  As I recently argued in The Atlantic, this is the greatest moral failure of our generation. It is India’s collective moral failure before it is the BJP’s political failure.

 The blame for this cannot stop at one man, no matter how unfit for office he may be. It lies just as much at the feet of people who voted for this incompetence twice thinking it will never affect them, assuming their bubbles of concrete will keep them safe from the chaos being inflicted on others. The structure and actions of the Modi administration has stood in mockery of the citizens who ever placed their faith in it. And yet, the leaders of this administration have been rewarded with blind hero-worship, and that was the last blow to Indian democracy.

Since 2002, I’ve seen Modi rise to power with a dropped jaw. His career is a monument to treachery, to the power of majoritarianism in India, and to the horrors forgiven by the country to protect those who champion such majoritarianism. He has spent people’s lives as pocket change as he failed his way upwards, into the highest office in the land.

Throughout his career, Modi has shown an insatiable appetite to jail and threaten his own citizens, and let them die on his watch without accepting any responsibility. His two terms have been an era of derangement, through which he has asked us, the people of India, to turn a blind eye to the bloodletting in Kashmir, rampant gang-rapes of women, lynchings of Muslim minorities, caste atrocities against Dalits, and the spectre of detention camps in Assam. As if all of this was not bad enough, in this process, we have also made a Faustian bargain in signing up to hate our own neighbours, friends, and colleagues.

Today, as graveyards run out of space, we cannot pin it on Modi without a critical self-inventory of the role BJP voters played in this tragic story. It is a difficult conversation to have in a country filled with strife but it can no longer be avoided. Neither can the link between morals and politics be evaded.

The BJP secured 37.4 percent of the votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections—the highest ever received by the party in its history. A nation gets the government it deserves and, in small and big ways, every one of BJP’s voters who could make their peace with poor people dying in the name of economic prosperity contributed to this tragedy, particularly the upper castes, upper class and middle class.

The kind of people who quote scriptures from the Bhagavad Gita and discuss theories on free-market capitalism as they short-change their oppressed-caste domestic workers whom they refuse to give weekly offs. The kind who do not see the inhumanity of children begging at their BMW’s window as they drive to work, where they will not speak up against systemic corruption. The kind who find women “angry” when they bring up the sexual violence and turn a blind eye to the rampant practice of manual scavenging prevalent in the country.

Most of all, with their hearts full of cynicism and indifference, and theirs sleeves stained in blood, they award certificates of nationalism based on religion, gender and caste. They preferred WhatsApps that repeated convenient falsehoods over factual news reports that showcased the unpleasant realities. Their collective will and wilful apathy���towards the poor, the sick, the minorities—is the cement that holds this government together. They valourise greed, demonise the fight for social justice, and advise us to remain calm, after handing over power to a party that has no interest, and no skill, in the art of  governance. 

They handed power to the BJP, and now they chastise those who did not for bringing politics into everyday conversations, and without irony want us keep things positive instead of focussing on the viral apocalypse we are in. By aiding, abetting or ignoring one injustice at a time, they helped Modi subvert democracy in favour of authoritarian regimes. Through their fogged lens of good intentions and morally neutral positions, they are directly responsible for degrading out institution—courts, police stations, and hospitals. 

The rich and middle-class citizen  was entirely alright watching children choke to death in Gorakhpur, assuming that would never happen to him. Once the pandemic levelled the system, and the privileged found themselves without privilege for the first time, they fled, with no regard to the medical apartheid unfolding in hospitals created for the poor. They now act shocked when confronted with the fragility of their bubbles.

The cynical political decisions taken in the past seven years have come back to haunt us this last month. We have, as people, been wilfully unaware of the state of our health infrastructure for so long because it was claiming lives that did not matter to us. That bubble has now burst.   

Our small and big moral failures have added up to design India’s pandemic response. On 27 April, India recorded 3,286 deaths, its highest number of COVID-19 fatalities so far, taking the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 201,187. We created this veritable chamber of horrors

[opticien2-0]

Fresh uncertainty surrounds UK-EU trade deal negotiations

Uncertainty remains today over what, if any, trade agreement will be struck between the UK and the EU following the UK chief negotiator’s admission today that “very little progress” has been made in the latest round of talks.

If no agreement is reached, retailers will continue to trade tariff-free with the EU only until the end of December. From January 2021 they would have to charge shoppers buying cross-border customs and tariffs on the World Trade Organisation schedule.

  Continuing uncertainty may also affect retail sales further in the way that happened both in March 2019 and October 2019 amid consumer anxiety relating a no-deal Brexit. This time around, the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to add still further to that uncertainty.

  David Frost, who is negotiating the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, said in a statement today that “very little progress” has been made on the most significant issues in the latest round of talks, which have been held this week via videoconferencing.

  He said the main obstacle was the EU’s “insistence on including a set of novel and unbalanced proposals on the so-called ‘level playing field’ which would bind this country to EU law or standards or determine our domestic legal regimes in a way that is unprecedented in Free Trade Agreements and not envisaged in the Political Declaration.”

  He added: “As soon as the EU recognises that we will not conclude an agreement on that basis, we will be able to make progress.”

  He said a change in the EU’s approach was needed for the next round, starting on June 1.

  Meanhwile, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said: “Without a clear and effective level playing field framework without a balanced fisheries agreement, there will not be any possible agreement on our economic and trading partnership.”

  David Jinks, head of consumer research at international shipping specialist ParcelHero, says the timing of negotiations is reaching a cliff edge, with the UK currently insisting it will not agree to extend the transition period.

  Jinks said: “We are facing a financial disaster and it is time to end political posturing and face reality. If the UK does suffer a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, it is likely to peak around the end of December. Some experts fear it will necessitate a second lockdown period, closing stores once again. This would correspond with Britain’s departure from the European Union on January 1. Progress on Brexit talks this week seems to have been like extracting teeth. What this means is a double hit to domestic sales and overseas sales for Britain’s retailers and manufacturers, who are already punch-drunk from this year’s events.”

  Jinks said the World Health Organisation’s regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge, had warned that the UK and its European neighbours should prepare for a deadlier second wave of coronavirus this winter and said there are now new cases in places where the virus had apparently disappeared, such as Wuhan and South Korea. In an online lecture yesterday, the government’s chief medical adviser Dr Chris Whitty warned that the virus may be more severe and spread more rapidly in a second peak during the winter.

  Jinks said: "That is grim enough news for the UK’s hard-pressed manufacturers and retailers, who will also be dealing with the impact of a recession caused by the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. What is breath-taking is that, even knowing all this, the Government is insisting there can be no extension to Brexit negotiations, even though both sides concede there has been only ‘limited progress’ so far.

  Image: Fotolia

from InternetRetailing https://ift.tt/3bv4LdG via IFTTT

[bigyack-com]

‘Completely absurd’: China’s coronavirus control tactics trigger outrage among citizens - world news

An elderly man in virus-hit China pops out to use a public toilet without wearing a compulsory face mask. The next thing he knows, police are ordering him into a van to be taken into quarantine.A video of the incident in the northern province of Hebei has been widely shared on social media amid growing anger over apparently arbitrary measures aimed at stopping the deadly epidemic from spreading.Criticised for their slow response to the virus, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan in December, chastened authorities have gone on the offensive in recent weeks, as the death toll has risen to more than 3,000 with over 80,500 infected in the country.From locking down tens of millions of people at the epicentre of the outbreak to imposing two-week quarantines on anyone who has travelled to virus-affected provinces or countries, officials are pulling out all stops to contain the virus.But there are growing complaints that their efforts are excessive, with neighbourhood committees -- which enforce the orders of the ruling Communist Party -- sometimes accused of going too far.“In my case, they acted in a simplistic and rude manner,” Zhang, a 29-year-old woman in Beijing, told AFP.Zhang was quarantined after her flatmate returned from another province and was banned from even setting foot in the shared corridor.To ensure she obeyed, a notice was stuck on her front door warning neighbours “this person is currently in quarantine. Please watch over them.”“It’s humiliating,” Zhang said.In another case shared on social media, three relatives under lockdown in the hardest-hit province of Hubei were playing mahjong when they were reprimanded by staff enforcing the prevention measures, apparently for being too close to each other.‘Completely absurd’Ge Daye was also quarantined in his home near Beijing on the orders of local officials -- not because he had travelled to a virus-hit area, but because he was born in Hubei.“I haven’t been there for six months,” the 29-year-old said.“They say the measure comes from above and admit themselves that it is not good. But the orders are the orders.”“I understand the politicians. They don’t want to bother” sorting out potentially infected people from the rest, he said.But the approach “is completely absurd”.Faced with growing discontent over its handling of the health crisis, the government is taking action.In a recent editorial, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily warned against the arbitrary implementation of virus measures.“This will inevitably provoke resentment and opposition from the people,” it said.Beijing city officials also noted recently the existence of “certain problems” of abusive procedures and promised to do better.Nearly one million returnees have had to undergo 14-day quarantine in the capital.In collaboration with hundreds of municipalities, tech giants Alibaba and Tencent have launched mobile apps that use metadata to determine if the user should be isolated.If a QR code shows up green, no problem. Yellow or red means the user is off to quarantine. Read the full article

[dillydedalus]

what i read in february

check to find out if i defeated my nemesis thomas mann by reading the magic mountain or surrendered to his absolute rule over my unread books shelf

milkman, anna burns this is deeply divisive on the bookish internet apparently with fights over a) whether it’s brilliant or garbage, b) whether it’s difficult, c) whether literary difficulty is a moral issue (with both renouncers-of-milkman and defenders-of-milkman variously taking either side). here’s my lukewarm take: a) it’s good, b) it’s not that difficult but can be frustrating to read, c) it’s not a moral issue, like, obvi. anyway, y’all probably know what this is about (girl in belfast during the troubles finds herself stalked by dangerous paramilitary, gossip & violence abound). i found the decision not to use proper names, either for the characters (narrator is middle sister, other characters are ‘maybe-boyfriend’, ‘wee sisters’, ‘third brother-in-law’, etc) or the setting really interesting - it added both to the conversational feel, the paranoia in the community and the universality of themes like civil violence, paranoia, mistrust, sexual harrassment, pressure to conform etc. 4/5

paradise, a.l. kennedy (uni) idk man this is well-written and especially the writing about drunkenness & the depth of hannah’s addiction & misery (and joy, which kennedy does not avoid) is vivid, but i’m still p meh on it, and it was definitely too long for what it was doing. i’ll add more after the class where we’ll discuss it (update: the class was unfortunately a mess so I’m still ehhh about it) 2.5/5

die verängstigten, dima wannous (tr. from arabic) an english translation, the frightened ones, is coming out some time this year i think. this story is told thru two narratives, one by sulaima, a syrian woman with anxiety living in damascus, whose brother has been disappeared by the regime and whose lover nassim has fled the country, and one thru chapters of the unfinished novel nassim leaves behind for sulaima, narrated by a girl called salma, whose life story mirrors sulaima’s own. this is a very interesting set-up, and i think both the narrative structure and the combination of anxiety as a psychological illness and anxiety/paranoia as a social state caused by political repression & violence were really interesting, but sometimes the book felt a bit muddled and confusing to me. 3/5

der schlaf der gerechten, wolfgang hilbig (the sleep of the righteous) this is a collection of connected short stories set in a mining town in east germany - the first 4 stories follow the narrator figure (who’s not necessarily the same, but very similar throughout all stories) as a child and young adult, growing up in a town almost without men after world war 2, whereas the last 3 describe the narrator’s return to this town as an adult after reunification, struggling with his own and east germany’s past. i ADORED the first stories - they are insanely good, dark, atmospheric, beautifully written and so evocative of the materiality of this town, the ash, the coal, moulding fruit, gritty, grimy, ash coating everything (the blurb on the back says that your hands will come away from the pages stained with soot, and i feel that). the second set is good too, but it moves away from that sensual evocation which i loved so much. 4/5

the golden fool (tawny man #2), robin hobb y’all i really tried to read this one slowly, and it worked for four days but then i decided that i might as well read read the entire second half in one day so. anyway this is hard to talk about w/o spoiling a lot but robin hobb truly is the queen of character writing. loved the elliania plot, loved the coterie forming, loved the bingtown delegation, loved fitz and the fool having Feelings Drama (made me Big Sad tho - also fitz is my son & all but good god he can be a dumbass). i feel like this one’s mostly setting everything up for fool’s fate but it’s good. 4/5

the sixth extinction: an unnatural history, elizabeth kolbert engaging & accessible nonfiction book about extinction, including both past extinction events, the history of science about extinction and focusing on the current extinction event (with several example species, from frogs to rhinos) mostly caused by humans fucking everything up. 3/5

the course of the heart, m john harrison tbh i just didn’t get it.... maybe i’m not versed enough in gnosticism & weird esoteric shit. anyway, this is about three friends haunted by some spiritual ritual (lol) they held while at uni with a sinister guy called yaxley. you never find out what they actually did, but they construct a whole mythology about it that i uh. didn’t get. tbh i pretty much checked out halfway thru. 1.5/5

barracoon: the story of the last “black cargo”, zora neale hurston (audio) interesting & sad & really touching account of cudjo lewis, one of the last africans to be shipped to america as slaves, mainly made up of his own narrative, collected & put together by hurston. some interesting background info about how the book came to be as well. 3/5

how to survive a plague, david france in-depth account of the aids epidemic in the us, especially in new york, combining personal stories, insight into aids activism, scientific progress (and for most of the book, lack thereof) and staggering political neglect and failure. well-written, informative and well-explained but (obviously) very emotionally draining.  4/5

fool’s fate (the tawny man #3), robin hobb lmao i love emotionally dying about robin hobb books. anyway A LOT happens in this one & i was very emotional about most of it but most emotional about fitzchivalry farseer (idiot, son boy, changer) and the fool (beloved!) and my man burrich (lol say the words ‘heart of the pack’ & i’m already overwhelmed). anyway this was a very epic & hardcore emotional conclusion to this series & robin hobb may make me cry any time she wishes. 4/5, series rating 4.5/5

what it means when a man falls from the sky, lesley nneka arimah collection of short stories mostly set in nigeria and in the us. some of the stories are magical realist-y, some are more realist, but almost all are concerned with familial bonds and bondage, the complicated relationships between parents and children. the stories are well-executed and precisely told, but while i liked quite a few of the stories (esp. the title story) i just didn’t feel particularly strongly about most of them. 3/5

heimsuchung, jenny erpenbeck (visitation) another interesting take on 20th century german history from erpenbeck - this one is centred around a house by a lake in brandenburg & told thru the various people connected to the house over the years & decades, owners, visitors, neighbours, etc. it’s an interesting concept & well-executed & clever & erpenbeck can write but it kinda paled for me in comparison to her aller tage abend, which does a similar thing in very different way. 3/5

currently reading: look okay i have Not finished the magic mountain but i am still reading it so i still have a chance of defeating mann in single combat. i’m actually kinda liking it but it’s A Lot, so i’m taking it slow. also call me zebra which i am v v...... unsure about??

[euromaidanpress]

[box title=”” align=”center”]Over the weekend of July 11-12, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Khabarovsk, a large city of about 600,000 people located near the border with China and seven time zones from Moscow, in support of Sergei Furgal, the elected governor of Khabarovsk Krai. Smaller rallies were held in the industrial city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and other towns in the region. The protests continued on July 13-14 as hundreds of people marched peacefully along the streets of the city.  [/box]

On the morning of July 9, 2020, the governor of Khabarovsk Krai, Sergei Furgal, was arrested by FSB officers on the doorstep of his home in Khabarovsk. He was flown to Moscow and charged with the murder of several businessmen and the attempted murder of another in 2004-2005. The next day, the Basmanny Court of Moscow remanded Furgal in custody for two months ahead of his trial. Thus, the Governor of Khabarovsk Krai has not been officially dismissed from his post, but is now awaiting trial behind bars.

Khabarovsk Governer Sergei Furgal is brought to court hearing in Moscow on July 10. Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin (TASS)

Sergei Furgal, an MP from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (led by the controversial and outspoken Vladimir Zhirinovskiy), became governor of  Khabarovsk Krai in September 2018, defeating Viacheslav Shport, the candidate of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

Shport and Furgal first ran in the gubernatorial elections back in 2013, when Shport won, gaining 63.92% of the votes against 19.14%. However, the situation changed radically in 2018, when Furgal gained 69.57% and Sport 27.97%. Furgal’s victory was considered a blow to United Russia’s tight grip on power in the distant Russian regions.

In the September 2019 elections, the Khabarovsk Liberal Democratic Party won 30 of the 36 seats in the Regional Legislative Assembly and 34 of the 35 seats in the Khabarovsk City Council, as well as municipal elections in a number of other regional cities.

In November 2019, the FSB searched the company linked to Furgal. However, few people expected the duly elected governor to be arrested on murder charges dating back 15 years. And, it came as a complete surprise to everyone that, despite such serious allegations, thousands of people from Khabarovsk and the region’s second-largest city, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, took to the streets in support of their governor and against Moscow. The police did not intervene, and no arrests were reported.

[box]Furgal’s arrest comes in the wake of Putin’s all-Russian referendum, which gives the Russian leader the right to stay in power until 2036. Some Russia observers see Furgal’s arrest as a warning from Putin to regional leaders to keep their new powers in check.[/box]

In fact, Russia has been struggling to deal with the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, so the President of Russia deferred much of the decision-making around the pandemic to governors and other local leaders.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There have been many speculations regarding these mass protests, and why they mobilized so many people and so quickly. Below are some remarks collected on social media.

In his FB post of July 9, Russian political analyst and Putin’s former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov argues that the arrest serves as a warning to candidates preparing to run in the upcoming September elections:

“Furgal’s arrest has strong political connotations.

First, it’s a warning to all opposition candidates participating in the gubernatorial campaigns that are beginning now: don’t even try running for office; things will get even worse for you if you win.

Second, it’s a warning to the gubernatorial corps: don’t even imagine that “coronavirus federalization” is serious; all power that was transferred to the regions during the epidemic must be returned intact.

Way back in spring of 2020, some political experts warned that there would be a crackdown on the regional governors. The Moloch power vertical demands sacrifice!”

Pro-Kremlin political scientist Sergei Markov claims that Khabarovsk is not protesting against Vladimir Putin, but against the pro-Western technocrats in charge of Russia’s economic policy:

“Political unrest in Khabarovsk Krai. Why did it happen?

This is a protest against the Kremlin’s disregard for the development of the region. People compare with the Soviet period and conclude that the USSR had large-scale regional projects, whereas today, the government only imitates economic development. The region needs large state projects, and not useless chatter about invisible market demands.

This is a protest against the economic decline of the Russian Far East as compared with neighbouring China and other Asian countries. Neighbouring Chinese regions are growing steadily, while the Russian government lags behind, waiting for bank funding and Western hand-outs.

This is a protest against government cuts to social programs. The Soviet era saw important social programs for the regions, but these have all been dismantled. Consequently, residents of this region don’t have enough to even visit their relatives in Russia’s European part. This is very painful to everyone.

This is a protest against the discrimination of ethnic Russians in Russia. The indigenous peoples of the Far East have been allowed to keep the old pension system, while Russians are forced to work five extra years before retiring.

This is a protest against the criminalization of the economy in the Far East, a definite fusion of crime, government and business. Moscow isn’t doing anything, and from time to time punishes not the guiltiest parties, but those that have very few toes to the central government.

This is a protest of the brave, because living in the Far Eastern border regions makes people fearless.

The conclusion is that this is not a protest against Putin, but a protest against those pro-Western technocrats who are in charge of the economy and politics. The government should take advantage of the protests in the Far East and make some strategic changes to their economic policy.”

Financial analyst Vladyslav Zhukovsky tweeted the following message:

“Well done! Khabarovsk has shown us how to stand up against the total lawlessness of the state! The same actions are required to protest against implementing pension reforms, raising VAT and gasoline and utilities prices, nullifying the Constitution and usurping power.

Tens of thousands of people chanted: “Shame on Moscow!”

Award-winning Russian journalist Sergei Kanev remarked in a bantering tone:

“I’m waiting for the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, to announce another piece of rubbish concerning the protests in Khabarovsk in support of Sergei Furgal, namely that they were organized by foreign intelligence services and the Soros Foundation. Mr. Patrushev, you’re getting old…”

Russian journalist and blogger Pavel Prianikov believes that the protests are neither spontaneous nor popular, and believes that they highlight the conflict within the Russian elite.

 “A few remarks about the rally in Khabarovsk:

– Apparently, 1% or 2% of the city’s population is enough to hold a rally without any opposition from the security forces. Khabarovsk has a population of 600,000 – this means about 7-10,000 came out in protest. For Moscow, this would mean from 150-200,000 people. Let me remind you that in recent years only 0.3-0.4% of any urban population is allowed to protest.

– The protests in Khabarovsk also target Moscow. This topic has been around for a long time. The Moscow intelligentsia doesn’t seem to realize this.

– The rally in Khabarovsk couldn’t have taken place without the tacit consent of the local elites. This probably means that the country is returning to the old model of the late 1990s, the boom of regionalism. This situation will be more difficult to handle than targeting bloggers or millennials.”

Popular writer, satirist and radio host Viktor Shenderovich voices some pointed comments:

“The situation is quite tragicomic, because Sergei Furgal is clearly not Vaclav Havel. But, whatever, as these are minor details against the background of much more important things.

When Russians are finally ready to choose an administration through honest, equal and free elections, then we can all start talking about the quality of the elected individuals. In the meantime, we’re still discussing our right to do this, and not just bow to the next moronic leader of the Horde, chosen to reign over us.

Well done Khabarovsk!”

Russian politician and Putin critic Alexei Navalny took his comments one step further:

“Two great pieces of news! And both from the Kremlin. 1) They’ve established who organized the protests in Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. It’s me, of course. Just imagine how powerful I am! 2) I received 1 million euros for organizing these protests. Hooray! I’ll order pizza and champagne for all the protesters!”

Protesters march in Khabarovsk on July 14. Photo: Ekaterina Khasina (RFE/RL)

The protests continued in Khabarovsk on Tuesday, July 14. Many locals disagree not only with Furgal’s arrest, but they also protest against the government in far-off Moscow.

“We’re not scum! We’re not afraid! We’re against the Putin regime!” “Do they know how we live here? It’s a rich region, but we exist, we survive, most people are up to their necks in debt!”

Furgal’s is the second high-profile arrest in Russia in the past week. On July 7, former investigative journalist and adviser to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Ivan Safronov, was arrested on charges of espionage for the Czech security service. He was formally charged on July 13.

On July 6, a journalist from a radio station in Pskov in Western Russia, Svetlana Prokopieva, was found guilty by a military court for “justifying terrorism”. On July 7, the prosecutor demanded 15 years of prison for Yuriy Dmitriev, a historian who uncovered mass graves from Stalin’s executions. Piotr Verzilov, head of the website Mediazona, reporting on conditions in the Russian penitentiary system, has been detained several times, the latest on July 8.

According to the Telegram channel Protestnaya Rossiya, rallies are scheduled in Moscow and St. Petersburg on July 15 to protest the results of the vote, allegedly falsified by the Kremlin, on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

[box title=”” align=”center”]Just days after the Russian President signed the amended constitution, several pointed questions can be raised. Are the arrests signs of a coordinated effort to silence Russian media? Do the protests in Russia’s Far East signal a warning to the central government in Moscow and will the protesters be able to keep the momentum rolling?[/box]

“We’re against the Putin regime!” Fifth day of protests in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk Over the weekend of July 11-12, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Khabarovsk, a large city of about 600,000 people located near the border with China and seven time zones from Moscow, in support of…

[vsplusonline]

Vietnam relaxes Covid-19 restrictions as cases plateau

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/vietnam-relaxes-covid-19-restrictions-as-cases-plateau/

Vietnam relaxes Covid-19 restrictions as cases plateau

Vietnam eased social distancing measures Thursday, with experts pointing to a decisive response involving mass quarantines and expansive contact tracing for the apparent success in containing the coronavirus.

Despite a long and porous border with China, the Southeast Asian nation has recorded just 268 virus cases and zero deaths, according to official tallies.

Although the numbers tested for Covid-19 are relatively low and experts caution the authoritarian government’s health ministry is the sole source for the figures, they also say there is little reason to distrust them.

Vietnam was one of the first nations to ban flights to and from mainland China and in early February, when it had barely more than a dozen cases, villages with 10,000 people close to the nation’s capital were placed under quarantine.

There has also been aggressive contact tracing.

One 72-year-old Hanoi resident described how he and a team in his community had been tasked with zeroing in on any suspected cases, falling back on grassroots Communist party networks in charge of overseeing neighbourhoods.

“We go to each and every alley, knocking on each and every door,” Nguyen Trinh Thang told AFP.

“We follow the guidance from our government that ‘fighting the pandemic is like fighting our enemy’.”

Vietnam’s success in convincing the public to cooperate has been key, said Takeshi Kasai, the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific regional director.

“They’re really doing their part,” he said earlier this week, adding he believed around 80,000 people were placed under quarantine.

“I think that’s the reason why they were able to continue to keep the number (of infections) small.”

There are now almost no international flights arriving in Vietnam and the country has been under partial lockdown since the beginning of April.

The streets of Hanoi — normally flooded with motorbikes, tourists and vendors — have been virtually deserted, save those most in need queueing at so-called rice ATMs for handouts.

The strict controls have apparently paid off.

After reporting no new infections for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, the government said some shops and services will be allowed to reopen.

On Thursday, a few of the capital’s cafes had resumed service, although the streets were still fairly quiet.

Exceeding expectations

Across Europe and the United States, local governments are struggling to keep their citizens indoors — with beachgoers crowding on a shoreline and protesters refusing to comply with lockdown orders.

In contrast, Communist Vietnam has put tens of thousands under state quarantine, including overseas citizens returning home, at military-style camps across the country.

Vu Thi Nhung and her son spent two weeks sleeping in dormitory bunk beds with no mattresses at a camp in Hanoi after returning from Germany in March.

Their three meals a day were deposited outside their rooms by soldiers.

“You can’t compare it to being at home but given Vietnam and its current economic situation during an epidemic, it exceeded my expectations,” she told AFP.

Neighbouring Thailand, which reported the first case outside of China in mid-January, has also seen a declining number of new cases in the past week, with doctors applauding government restrictions such as a night-time curfew.

In Cambodia, the case number has remained unchanged at 122 for over a week, while cases in Laos have stayed at 19.

But Oupass Putcharoen, head of Chulalongkorn Hospital’s Emergency Infectious Disease Clinic in Thailand, said its neighbours’ numbers could be due to the “low rate of testing”.

So far, Thailand has done more than 142,000 Covid-19 tests, Cambodia around 9,000 while Vietnam has carried out over 180,000 for its 96 million people.

Vietnam expert Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said Vietnam’s case numbers should be treated with caution as Hanoi can punish for anyone who disputes them.

But he added: “There are too many people from overseas, too many people with mobile phones, too many people on the internet (for a cover-up).”

Also Read | Coronavirus very likely of animal origin, no sign of lab manipulation: WHO Also Read | Donald Trump says immigration suspension to last 60 days Also Watch | Dr Ian Lipkin on recovering from coronavirus and what future holds for world

Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from

Source link

[antti-nannimus]

https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n05/rupert-beale/short-cuts

Wash Your Hands Rupert Beale  2230  words

I first heard ​ about coronaviruses in 1999. Their special cunning is in the huge length and complexity of their RNA genome. RNA is much less stable than DNA, so RNA viruses tend to be short. We measure them approximately in kilobases (kb) of information. Polio is a mere 7 kb, influenza stacks up at 14, and Ebola weighs in at 19. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2), the causative agent of Covid-19, is 30 kb. That’s quite normal for a coronavirus, but close to the chemical limits of information storage for RNA – about as long as a strand of RNA can be without collapsing. The viruses therefore need some clever tricks to survive. I remember being fascinated by the RNA ‘pseudoknot’ and ‘slippery sequence’, which allow the viral genome to be read in two different ways simultaneously; the virus can regulate expression of different genes according to the way they are read.

Virologists need more than clever tricks: we also need cash. Twenty years ago, funding wasn’t available to study coronaviruses. In 1999, avian infectious bronchitis virus was the one known truly nasty coronavirus pathogen. Only poultry farmers really cared about it, as it kills chickens but doesn’t infect people. In humans there are a number of fairly innocuous coronaviruses, such as OC43 and HKU1, which cause the ‘common cold’. Doctors don’t usually bother testing for them – you have a runny nose, so what?

When Sars broke out in 2002 we had no effective vaccine for any coronavirus, no antiviral drugs, minimal clues about how it caused disease and very little idea about the dynamics of transmission. It killed a reported 774 people, about 10 per cent of everyone it infected. In retrospect we were lucky that the Sars outbreak of 2002-3 was so nasty: it was easy to spot when someone had it, isolate them and treat them as best we could. There was a brief, intense flurry of funding, which rapidly subsided along with the virus. In 2012 a new, seriously pathogenic coronavirus emerged, Middle East respiratory syndrome related coronavirus (Mers). Like Sars it came to us from bats, but unlike Sars it arrived via dromedary camels – the intermediate host. It’s even nastier than Sars, killing about 30 per cent of people it infects (858 in total), but it doesn’t transmit well between humans. Covid-19 is especially difficult to deal with as most cases are mild. You have a cough, a sore throat, maybe a fever, maybe no symptoms at all – so what?

As the US health secretary Michael Leavitt put it in 2006, ‘anything we say in advance of a pandemic happening is alarmist; anything we say afterwards is inadequate.’ The Chinese government, for all its undoubted faults, instituted rational measures to contain the spread of the virus from its origin in Wuhan. Public transport, schools, large gatherings of any kind – all shut down. Known cases isolated, contacts traced and strict quarantine enforced. Enormous new hospitals built in less than a fortnight. Oxygen and ventilatory support supplied no matter the cost. Medics deployed from across the country, working extraordinary hours. Failure to comply not an option.

The current ‘multi-focal epidemic’, or ‘pandemic’ as virologists would usually describe it, has at the time of writing caused 3408 deaths. If governments move rapidly to contain and delay the spread, and effectively provide optimal medical care, we can expect a case fatality rate just under 1 per cent – though there is still a lot of uncertainty about this. South Korea is showing what a medium-sized country with a democratic government should do. They quickly ramped up their testing capacity, educated the public about self-isolation, shut down large gatherings, restricted travel, increased hospital capacity. They have allocated 30 trillion won (£19 billion) to the response. They have confirmed 6593 cases, but only 42 deaths so far – though only 41 people have been declared to have recovered. The main effort has been in rapid and efficient testing. Detecting and isolating mild cases delays the spread of the disease and reduces the proportion of the population that will be infected. ‘Social distancing’ – reducing human contact – can be achieved by shutting schools, universities, public transport etc, and can mitigate the undetected spread of untested mild cases. The approximately 20 per cent of severe cases requiring hospital treatment, and the roughly 5 per cent of critical cases requiring intensive care, thus do not all arrive in a short time-frame. Resources are not overwhelmed, and lives can be saved.

In countries where rapid testing and isolation do not happen, the disease will at its peak rapidly overwhelm the ability of hospitals to cope, and the case fatality rate will be much higher. The global case fatality rate is above 3 per cent at the moment, and if – reasonable worst case scenario – 30-70 per cent of the 7.8 billion people on earth are infected, that means between 70 and 165 million deaths. It would be the worst disaster in human history in terms of total lives lost. Nobody expects this, because everyone expects that people will comply with efficient public health measures put in place by responsible governments.

Things do not look good in Iran. There was a cluster of cases in Qom. No containment measures were put in place until a number of people had died. The disease spread across Iran and to neighbouring countries, destroying any lingering hope for global containment – though that was always going to be a long shot given the number of cases emerging from China in the early phase of the pandemic. Tehran’s official figure of 4747 cases is likely to be between ten and a hundred times lower than the true number. The World Health Organisation is now involved and the reality may become apparent in the next few weeks. The initial lack of testing and lack of isolation of cases – denialism by the regime – is likely to lead to healthcare services being overwhelmed and tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Most democratic governments will follow South Korea rather than Iran. The UK’s record on testing and isolation of cases has so far been pretty good, though we need to increase testing capability. The announcement on 5 March that containment was no longer realistic and that we are moving towards a policy of delay is exactly right. Politicians will have to make some brave and possibly unpopular decisions on the advice of public health officials.

In the US the response so far has been slow. The situation isn’t helped by a president who keeps suggesting that the virus isn’t that bad, it’s a bit like flu, we will have a vaccine soon: stopping flights from China was enough. Tony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, deftly cut across Trump at a White House press briefing. No, it isn’t only as bad as flu, it’s far more dangerous. Yes, public health measures will have to be put in place and maintained for many months. No, a vaccine isn’t just around the corner, it will take at least 18 months. Fauci was then ordered to clear all his press briefings on Covid-19 with Mike Pence in advance: the vice president’s office is leading the US response to the virus. ‘You don’t want to go to war with a president,’ Fauci remarked.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are in charge of testing for and responding to the outbreak in the US. Astonishingly, their website reports that ‘CDC is no longer reporting the number of persons under investigation (PUIs) that have been tested, as well as PUIs that have tested negative. Now that states are testing and reporting their own results, CDC’s numbers are not representative all of [sic] testing being done nationwide,’ and: ‘As of 4 March 2020, 1524 patients had been tested at CDC. This does not include testing being done at state and local public health laboratories, which began this week.’ As a result, the US has reported only 233 cases. But by piecing together analysis of the genomes of viruses isolated from patients, virologists have shown that Sars-CoV-2 must be circulating undetected in the US. There was a very worrying case in California, where a patient was immediately suspected by his doctors to have Covid-19, but wasn’t tested because he didn’t meet the narrow CDC criteria. Five days later, he tested positive.

The US response will be complicated by its lack of socialised healthcare. Most cases in healthy young people will be mild. Your chance of death as a fit thirtysomething is probably much lower than 0.1 per cent. If you smoke, have diabetes, heart disease or a pre-existing lung condition, or are immunosuppressed, your chance of death is much higher. If you are in your eighties, it’s approaching 15 per cent. People often don’t go to the doctor in the US because they are understandably fearful of the huge costs they may incur. New York City and Washington State have already mandated that testing should be free; we must hope this becomes universal soon. Part of the public health response will have to be self-isolation of possible mild cases. You must not go to work. Will it be possible to convince the US public that they will have to endure some economic hardship to protect their vulnerable compatriots?

The US as a whole is immensely wealthy, and doesn’t have an excuse not to put in place stringent testing and isolation procedures. What about poorer countries? A few cases have been reported in sub-Saharan Africa. There is infrastructure in place to monitor influenza pandemics, which can be repurposed to test for Sars-CoV-2. But to ramp it up to the scale that South Korea has achieved is probably not realistic for a country like Malawi. The test at the moment is expensive, and requires a complicated machine as well as trained staff. There are efforts beginning in the UK, and no doubt elsewhere, to develop a simple ‘point-of-care’ test that could be self-administered. But even a prototype is several months away. Low and middle-income countries will have to put in place measures to increase ‘social distancing’, which could cause significant hardship.

For all its huge genome and clever tricks, Sars-CoV-2 has significant vulnerabilities. It has a fairly feeble fatty envelope, which it needs to sneak into cells. That’s destroyed by soap, and by alcohol – so washing your hands carefully or smearing them in alcohol hand gel will kill the virus. Most transmission is either by very close contact – someone coughs or sneezes in your face – or because a droplet containing the virus touches your hands, and then you touch your face; the virus gets into the body especially easily through the membranes in the eyes, nose and mouth. Expect to be bored to tears over the coming months by pious injunctions to wash your hands. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s going to reduce the risk at least somewhat.

The second great vulnerability of the virus is that it has to take great pains copying its genome. All RNA viruses (influenza, for example) have a special enzyme that copies RNA into RNA. These RNA-dependent RNA polymerases are usually very sloppy copyists. They do not bother with proofreading, and make huge numbers of errors. This high mutation rate enables them to evolve very rapidly; that’s one reason we need a new flu vaccine every year. Coronaviruses have to be much more careful, or else their huge genome will accumulate too many errors. Their mutation rate is therefore lower, so we may be able to develop a fairly effective vaccine – though it will take a year or two, assuming it’s possible at all.

We can also target the virus with drugs. Remdesivir was developed to target the Ebola polymerase, and may also work against Sars-CoV-2. It certainly works in a Petri dish, and there are ongoing clinical trials in China and the US to see if it works in humans. Sars-CoV-2 produces many of its genes in long, multi-functional proteins that need to be chopped up – by its own ‘protease’ enzymes – into the right chunks. Such proteases have been successfully targeted by antiviral drugs in viruses like Hepatitis C. In my lab we are trying to work out which human proteins Sars-CoV-2 needs to replicate, and the interactions between virus and host may also be good drug targets. But we are a long way off, so in the meantime, what should we do?

I received an email from a colleague in infectious diseases. His message was in no way reassuring. He made three main points:

1. This is NOT  business as usual. This will be different from what anyone living has ever experienced. The closest comparator is 1918 influenza.

2. EARLY  social distancing is the best weapon we have to combat Covid-19.

3. Humanity will get through this fine, but be prepared for major changes in how we function and behave as a society until either we’re through the pandemic or we have mass immunisation available.

I am writing in haste. This is a fast-moving situation, and the numbers are constantly changing – certainly the ones I have given here will be out of date by the time you read this. What’s very clear is that we must comply immediately with whatever measures competent public health authorities urge us to take, even if they seem disproportionate. It’s time to increase ‘social distance’ in all sorts of ways. And wash your hands.

6 March

Rupert Beale   Rupert Beale is a Clinician Scientist Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.    

[socialattractionuk]

Single people can teach us all about relationships

The rise in singlehood is unprecedented.

In the UK, unmarried make up about 50 per cent of the adult population. In the United States, research predicts that approximately one-quarter of young adults will never marry.

In Japan, love and sex are simply out of fashion: a 2015 survey shows that one-third of Japanese adults under the age of 30 had never dated and over 40 per cent were virgins.

There are many explanations for these numbers: women’s growing independence, demanding careers, individualism, growing mobility and urbanisation processes – but does this mean single people are lonelier than married people?

The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece titled The Loneliest Generation. Its authors argue that we are in the midst of an epidemic in which people feel lonelier than ever before. As always, we, the unmarried people, are the usual suspect.

Single people, especially long-term single people, are the most networked and socially active individuals (Picture: Ella Byworth for metro.co.uk)

The authors’ argument is simple: singles have no one in their lives to whom they can turn to in times of need and, therefore, they are lonelier than married couples.

However, a quick look at existing data reveals something that might surprise some: single people, especially long-term single people, are the most networked and socially active individuals.

My analysis of more than 300,000 people from 31 countries shows that singles meet their friends more frequently than their married counterparts. Accounting for all other variables (age, gender, education, income, etc.), widowed, divorced and never-married individuals meet their friends 17, 20 and 45 per cent more frequently than married people, respectively.

One of the main explanations for these findings is that those who choose to marry enter into what researchers call a ‘greedy’ marriage, in which couples turn inwards and cut ties with friends and relatives. This, in turn, frequently leaves them feeling lonelier than their unmarried peers.

In the interviews I conducted for my book, Happy Singlehood, I have found that many singles develop strong social networks that support them in their everyday lives as well as in times of need.

Phil, a 47-year-old single man from Indiana, told me: ‘I cast a pretty wide net of friends, I have a network of people I can see and socialise with on a regular basis.’ Sometimes, these kinds of networks were even the exact reason the singles I met yearned to be alone at the end of the day.

When they returned home from an evening with friends, full of laughter and joy, the only thing they needed is the chance to balance that joy with some quiet time.

John Cacioppo, who died in early 2018, served as the director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. In 2006, he published his book Loneliness, which is considered to be one of the most comprehensive books on the subject.

The growing single population has been adapting and even flourishing in recent decades (Picture:Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

In an interview, Cacioppo explained that ‘being alone and being lonely are not the same thing, but they’re both stigmatised in our society… People who prefer solitude nevertheless look for relationships out of guilt – but feel even guiltier once they’re in one. A happy single person is just as healthy as a happy married person.’

When comparing differences in social behavior between couples in 1980 and 2000, researchers found that couples in the year 2000 were less likely than the 1980 group to participate in a broad array of social activities, including visiting friends, working on shared hobbies and going out.

At the same time, the unmarried population has become more adept at building personal networks. Apparently, married individuals are those who have become increasingly exposed to the risks of loneliness and social isolation over time, not the unmarried population.

In contrast, the growing single population has been adapting and even flourishing in recent decades.

More: Showbiz

Bebe Rexha honours 'body positivity' as she celebrates turning 30 with near-naked snap

Princes William and Harry will mark anniversary of Princess Diana’s death together

I wrote into Neighbours and asked them to put a trans character on my screen

I asked Jacqui 32, whether she feels lonely being a single parent. She immediately said: ‘I have to say that I don’t use the term “single parent” as to me it infers loneliness, which in many situations is very inaccurate.

‘With such a wide range of friends and family, it is very hard to have a moment to feel lonely or single. In fact, I feel like I have more support as a sole caretaker than I would have had had my circumstances been different.’ Jacqui revealed to me a very basic truth: being alone does not mean one is lonely or wants to couple up.

All of this only means that the trend of going solo might be a reason for hope, not for despair. The explanation behind this remarkable trend lies in what researchers call the ‘networked’ individual.

Whereas the household was once the cornerstone of one’s support system, there has been a shift toward organising one’s life in personal networking units.

The role of friendship in everyday life has strengthened among singles, and the support traditionally provided by the family has been transferred to social networks.

This is not only the case among young people; singles of all ages have parents, siblings and friends in their lives who love and care for them. These circles of support solidify the growing population of networked individuals, young and old singles alike.

It might well be that today’s singles are not the problem, but the solution. If the world becomes more single-oriented, then we might actually have a reason for hope.

Today’s singles are more likely to socialise and enjoy shared experiences with friends and family, to help raise others’ children and to care for those who cannot look after themselves.

It is time to consider singles an asset instead of blaming them for not partnering up.

Last week in Love, Or Something Like It: I’ve had people un-match me for being bisexual

Write for Love, Or Something Like It

Love, Or Something Like It is a new series for Metro.co.uk, covering everything from mating and dating to lust and loss, to find out what love is and how to find it in the present day.

If you have a love story to share, email rosy.edwards@metro.co.uk

MORE: What 15k Tinder matches has taught me about true love

MORE: What heartbreak taught me about love

MORE: Being a matchmaker has taught me what true love really is

[artworkandstuff]

Outrage elaborated fully

Outrage is an album influenced by current affairs, the media and politics. Its existence will be to shine the light on issues typically unaddressed to young audiences. Its inspiration has come from my love of knowledge and my wish to share this information with others. Particular events such as Brexit, Grenfell and the General Election fuelled my curiosity to discover the world of politics and all its dirty ways.

My EP - OUTRAGE

Track 1 - Police Brutality  

My first track is called Police Brutality which is straight up about police brutality. Not only is it about Police Brutality, it’s also about Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is much more than just a hashtag on twitter, it’s a worldwide activist movement. Black Lives Matter is a campaign against racial injustice against black people internationally. This subject ties in directly with Police Brutality as majority of victims of Police Brutality are black, especially in America. Now although the argument against that is that more white people are killed by the police in America than black, its the fact that the black community are such a small percentage in America as opposed to white. Bringing it back overseas to the UK we don’t have deaths that frequently because of the police, but we do have stop and searches often. Here shows a graph displaying those who have been stopped and searched in groups of ethnicity.

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest

You can clearly see how much more the black community is victimised down to simply being black. The whole police system is racially rigged, no argument against it and this clearly shows that.

One poor guy who is no longer with us who suffered the full force of the British Police is Rashan Charles. I made the song in memory of him and reference to his unjustified death. “Let me spend this moment and spit something for Rashan for was wrongly strangled by the blue man, forcely accused of swallowing a package, when the 50 fucked him and turned him into bagage”. I wanted to reference him as evidence to show my frustration at Police brutality but also to show how needed “black live matters” is. On top of that I reference stop and search by saying “Rest in peace brother only so young what does it take for the feds to see what they done, a joke a mess that’s basically their ego, touching up young men like some peado”. I wanted to make a hard point that it’s just a joke, why are people being victimized for the way they look then suffering because of it. Its pathetic.  

I do understand that the lack of funding to the police force by the Conservatives austerity has hit the force hard, but it’s not an excuse for imbecilic behaviour.  I mention this in my piece by saying “Under funding and stretched supplies, but you still interested in taking lives, but not taking knives, jheeze you hurt inside. Not nice. Not nice.“. I talk about the subject of knives as in Britain we have a knife crime epidemic. Knives are easy to obtain and conceal and can easily cause a death. Due to the lack of police officers on the street and the closure of youth centres down to the Conservative government there simply aren’t the resources available to bring these criminals to justice and the support for young people just doesn’t exist anymore.

The Tory government went as far to blame other reasons for the rise in knife crime and not them cutting police numbers and closing youth centres. Amber Rudd the home secretary blamed numerous matters, such as music and videos posted online on youtube. She said that the use of violent words and actions has had a dramatic affect on young people’s minds. By posting these music videos online apparently “glamourise” the lifestyle of a “thug”. On top of that the illegal creation and importation of crack cocaine has created the perfect environment for gangs to unleash terror on neighbouring gangs due to disputes over unpaid money. The third reason Rudd claimed to have contributed to the rise in knife crime is Alcohol consumption. Once consumed alcohol can greatly affect one’s decision making and can alter your physical ambition. Additionally Rudd claims that crowded pubs can assign people to inappropriate behaviour, even though there is little evidence to support this. People’s “age” and “character” is just as much of a contribution to, according to Rudd. The way people socialise and communicate affects their character which leads to knife crime. Personally I feel that these accusations are rather bland and have little to no evidence to support them. Furthermore Rudd claims there are more contributing factors, which I personally feel I are pathetically hilarious. For instance she had suggested that knife crime has always been an issue and because of better police records they can document more, leading to knife crime appearing to have grown. The last contributing factor is apparently wider problems across society. The statement Rudd made was rather bland as she accuses lack of communication because parents, police and youth workers from fighting knife crime together.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/two-uk-top-cops-warn-12449585

Track 2 - Our Freedom, Our Future

Our freedom, our future is a track I created based upon poverty, Brexit and the austerity of the Conservative government. Since the Tories came into government back in 2010 the country has changed dramatically. David cameron’s choice to introduce Brexit and a national vote on the matter has led to the term “immigrants” being used as a term for race. Since the vote in 2016, hate crime has risen. I wanted to show this in the rap and I start it off by saying “I’m not defending my race or culture, but I’m defending that fallen soldier, to fight was not his wish, but to serve was his life, sad thing is that no one cares cause he’s not white”. I’m not talking directly about a soldier, but I’m just simply talking about strong people dying for no need, such as a result of gang crime and knife crime, but little is truly being done about it because they’re not white. Towards the end of the piece I continue to talk about brexit as well to highlight its controversy and I say “cause opportunity will give us a life, but instead you vote for the rich arsehole party every time, the same party that is happy to walk away without a deal, then in that case just have it repealed”. Food banks have increased with up to 1 million people using them weekly. Dominic Raab, Conservative MP claims that people who use food banks aren’t actually in poverty, but those with a cash flow and management problem. This tory MP then went on to say that he is thankful for them. As great as food banks are, it’s a shame that they exist in the sense that it’d be a dream for poverty not to exist. Yet with Tories in control of the government, they don’t seem bothered by these figures.

Alongside food banks, children’s school dinners seem to be getting the axe, much like children’s milk did back in the 80’s with Margaret Thatcher in charge of government, claiming that there simply isn’t the money. To highlight this matter I said “Free school meals sound like a dream, but you don’t want rich people paying for those in need”. The rich people are the government. Majority of MP’s send their children to private schools as opposed state funded schools. Because they don’t experience poverty and lack of money, they are so unintouch with the country and it’s true needs. So by cutting school dinners you’re leading to children falling hungry.

Police numbers have been cut by more than 20,000 and they wonder why anti social behaviour and violent crime are on the raise. Police claim that violent crime has risen by more than 20% since the tories came into government, however the government have found from their own individual research that it’s only 14%. Regardless, the percentage has risen. The ignorant among us would claim it’s “all the immigrants” being allowed into this country causing the problem, when in reality it’s a lack of care to society by the Conservative government. Such as cutting funds to school clubs, youth centres and even the beloved library. Shamefully up to 15% of mental nurses have been cut since 2010. We have pay caps for the public sector, we have benefits being cut to those who depend on them. One of the lines from my rap is “Cutting benefits to those who need it, but givng rich arseholes more tax cuts, can you believe this”. I’m outing the complete carelessness of the Conservative party. The NHS is crippinling to pieces and we have a man running it who has written a book called “ Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party “. The book talks about the “denationalisation” of the NHS, to replace it with an insurance system. It’s a book co written by Tory mp’s, one of which is Health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt. The cabinet reshuffle in January saw Jeremy Hunt move from “Health care secretary” to “Health and social care secretary”. By doing so Hunt will merge both healthcare and social care together, shared funding. It’s the worst thing. You’ll have people taking up hospital beds who simply need help going to the toilet and taking medication. That simply isn’t right. It’s more than clear that the tories are trying to tear the NHS apart in order to find an excuse to privatise it. This is already being done by selling off property on hospital land for investment by other companies such “Virgin Care”.

Track 3 Conflict catalyst -  

Conflict catalyst is a track that talks about the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia under a conservative government. We are second in the world when it comes to arms trading. There is an international law that states if you sell your weapons to one country, they can’t use them on you, so they can’t attack you, even if you’re not really an “ally”. This is perfect, however its rather bad as well. Countries who thrive off of war use them, Saudi Arabia love war and so there for thrive off of them. They are in war with Yemen at the moment and it’s all rather ironic. Not only are we selling arms to Saudi Arabia who have links to ISIS, we are giving foreign aid to Yemen, the country they are bombing. How on earth does this make sense, it’s almost comical.

Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest places in the world, but also one of the number one human rights abusers. Sharia law is in place within the country which is an incredibly ancient Islamic law as its over 1400 years old. How on earth you are able to apply ancient laws to a modern society. You can’t. As a part of the law there are crimes classed as “Hudud” which include Baggery, Adultery and theft as well as many more. These crimes are punishable by public demonstration via lashing, stoning, removal of body parts and beheading and somehow in a modern day world they still exist. Out of anger I created the bar “Happily cut a next man for liking a man, happily stone a girl for having a baby that ain’t planned, intimacy in public is illegal, the heck they doing beating their own people”. I didn’t even need to changed anything it was practically freestyle and I’ve kept it to use in my work because sometimes thinking on the spot fuels your creativity.

We openly sell weapons to this country and with our knowledge of their breach of human rights, our conservative government doesn’t care. Money over morals. The fact that they have more of our own weapons then we do is ironic.

Track 4 Political Correctness:

Political Correctness is something that has taken the world by storm in the past 10 years. The point of it is to ensure people aren’t discriminated against but because of this people who have never fell victim to not being represented feel that it is not needed. Not only that but some people who fall victim to discrimination find themselves just as frustrated as for now they are being wrongly represented. An example is a term called “emoji blackface” which is people using an emoji of another race when they are a different race. I have heard of it before but recently two rather well known people had bought it up. Comedian Darren Harriott bought it up as part of his set and made a mockery of it saying how its political correctness gone mad. I can completely agree, he said why couldn’t emoji’s just of stayed yellow and there’d be no problem. A rapper known as Big narstie also bought it up in a live stream while having his hair cut. He said how it’s all been taken way too seriously and emoji’s as a whole are more of a joke than a second language. Especially with new emoji’s being released often it’s almost a way to dull subject matters down and for the subject to make more sense to a wider audience, such as hyroglifics.

There are far more subject matters that I have put into my work as I feel that everyone is born the way they are and everything should accept that. No one should be put in a box as at the end of the day someone else’s life and routine of life won’t ever affect yours. Within the piece I explain how political correctness does more good than bad as it allows people to no only feel accepted but also to push unwanted language and descriptions to the side.

Within the piece I reference Animal Farm, a book by George Orwell. One of the quotes is “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. Animal farm is a book based about war and the movement of politics throughout history. I am using this quote in my work to show that no human is no better than another, no money, ethnicity, job, sex life can change that.

[mikemortgage]

Death toll reaches 79 in Mexico fuel pipeline fire horror

TLAHUELILPAN, Mexico — People in the town where a gasoline explosion killed at least 79 people say the section of pipeline that gushed fuel has been a habitual gathering site for thieves, repeatedly damaged and patched like a trusty pair of jeans.

“It was the popular tap,” said Enrique Cerron, 22, who lives near the field. “You could pass by at 11 or 12 in the morning and see people filling up here.”

On Friday, amid countrywide fuel shortages at gas stations as the government attempts to stem widespread fuel theft, this particular section of pipeline came back in service for the first time in nearly four weeks, and somebody punctured the line again. Word quickly spread through the community of 20,000 people that gas was flowing. Come one, come all.

Hundreds showed up at the spigot, carrying plastic jugs and covering their faces with bandanas. A few threw rocks and swung sticks at soldiers who tried to shoo them away. Some fuel collectors brought their children along.

Tlahuelilpan is a largely agrarian community located 90 minutes by car from the capital and just 8 miles (13 kilometres) from the state-run Tula oil refinery. It’s surrounded by verdant alfalfa fields and power plant stacks, and is reasonably affluent by rural Mexican standards. Hidalgo state data shows about half the community lives in moderate poverty, in line with the national average.

At first the gasoline leak was manageable, locals say, emitting a tame fountain of fuel that allowed for filling small buckets at a time. But as the crowd swelled to more than 600, people became impatient.

That’s when a man rammed a piece of rebar into a patch, according to Irma Velasco, who lives near the alfalfa field where the explosion took place, and gasoline shot 20 feet (6 metres) into the air, like water from a geyser.

A carnival atmosphere took over. Giddy adults soaked in gasoline filled jugs and passed them to runners. Families and friends formed human chains and guard posts to stockpile containers with fuel.

For nearly two hours, more than a dozen soldiers stood guard on the outskirts of the field, warning civilians not to go near. Officials say the soldiers were outnumbered and their instructions were to not intervene. Only a week earlier, people in a different town had beaten some soldiers who tried to stop them from gorging on state-owned fuel.

The lure of free fuel was irresistible for many: They came like moths to a flame, parking vehicles on a nearby road.

The smell of gas grew stronger and stronger as thousands of barrels spewed. Those closest to the gusher apparently became delirious, intoxicated by fumes. Townspeople stumbled about. The night filled with an eerie mist, a mixture of cool mountain air and fine particles of gasoline.

Velasco said she rushed to aid a man she saw staggering along the road and away from the gusher. She removed his gas-drenched clothes to help alleviate the overwhelming stench of toxic fuel. Then she helped another young man, who described to her how the geyser had erupted.

Cerron was at the heart of the mayhem when he sensed mounting danger.

He pulled a 70-year-old man out of a ditch where gasoline was pooling; the man had passed out from the vapours. Then Cerron, a student, decided it was time to go home.

“They looked like zombies trying to get all that gasoline out,” says Cerron.

He passed soldiers warning would-be scavengers to stay away. It’s going to explode, they said. And it did. Once home, Cerron turned for one last glance at the gusher. Instead he saw flames.

The fireball that engulfed those scooping up gasoline underscores the dangers of the epidemic of fuel theft that Mexico’s new president has vowed to fight.

By Sunday morning the death toll from Friday’s blaze had risen to 79, with another 81 hospitalized, according to federal Health Minister Jorge Alcocer. Dozens more were missing.

Soldiers formed a perimeter around an area the size of a soccer field where townspeople were incinerated by the fireball, reduced to clumps of ash and bones. Officials suggested Sunday that fields like this, where people were clearly complicit with the crime of fuel theft, could be seized by the government.

But Attorney General Alejandro Gertz ruled out bringing charges against townspeople who merely collected spilled fuel, and in particular those hospitalized for burns. “Look, we are not going to victimize the communities,” he said. “We are going to search for those responsible for the acts that have generated this tragedy.”

The disaster came just three weeks after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched an offensive against fuel theft gangs that had drilled dangerous, illegal taps into pipelines an astounding 12,581 times in the first 10 months of 2018, an average of about 42 per day. The crackdown has led to fuel scarcity at gas stations throughout the country due to shifts in distribution, both licit and illicit.

Officials say pipeline in and around Tlahuelilpan has been perforated 10 times over the past three months.

Lopez Obrador vowed on Sunday to continue the fight against a practice that results in about $3 billion per year in stolen fuel. Legally, that fuel belongs to the Mexican people, with state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, acting as custodian.

But Pemex has long been plagued by corruption. Lopez Obrador described the company on Sunday as “at the service of people without scruples,” saying Pemex had been kidnapped by “a gang of ruffians,” referring to crooked government officials and executives within the company.

Lopez Obrador faces an uphill fight against a practice that has become an economic salve for poor rural areas where pipelines pass, covered by only a foot or two of dirt. Gangs recruit locals who then rally support from the community via gifts or threats of violence.

Storage sheds and warehouses dot the region, with landowners earning extra income from the rent or gifts of fuel.

The president plans a tour next week to several towns outside Mexico City where fuel theft has become entrenched in the local economy. He promises jobs and financial aid as an alternative for communities along pipelines that are somewhat dependent on income from fuel theft rings.

“Mexico needs to end corruption,” Lopez Obrador said Sunday. “This is not negotiable.”

Lopez Obrador launched the offensive against illegal taps soon after taking office Dec. 1, deploying 3,200 marines to guard pipelines and refineries. His administration also shut down pipelines to detect and deter illegal taps, relying more on delivering fuel by tanker truck.

Another pipeline burst into flames Friday in the neighbouring state of Queretaro as a result of another illegal tap. But there were no reported casualties.

In December 2010, authorities blamed thieves for a pipeline explosion in the central Mexico state of Puebla, not far from the capital, that killed 28 people, including 13 children.

——

Associated Press writer Amy Guthrie contributed to this story from Mexico City.

from Financial Post http://bit.ly/2FAjJUp via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[moreartworkandstuff]

Outrage elaborated fully

Outrage is an album influenced by current affairs, the media and politics. Its existence will be to shine the light on issues typically unaddressed to young audiences. Its inspiration has come from my love of knowledge and my wish to share this information with others. Particular events such as Brexit, Grenfell and the General Election fuelled my curiosity to discover the world of politics and all its dirty ways.

My EP - OUTRAGE

Track 1 - Police Brutality  

My first track is called Police Brutality which is straight up about police brutality. Not only is it about Police Brutality, it’s also about Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is much more than just a hashtag on twitter, it’s a worldwide activist movement. Black Lives Matter is a campaign against racial injustice against black people internationally. This subject ties in directly with Police Brutality as majority of victims of Police Brutality are black, especially in America. Now although the argument against that is that more white people are killed by the police in America than black, its the fact that the black community are such a small percentage in America as opposed to white. Bringing it back overseas to the UK we don’t have deaths that frequently because of the police, but we do have stop and searches often. Here shows a graph displaying those who have been stopped and searched in groups of ethnicity.

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest 

You can clearly see how much more the black community is victimised down to simply being black. The whole police system is racially rigged, no argument against it and this clearly shows that.

One poor guy who is no longer with us who suffered the full force of the British Police is Rashan Charles. I made the song in memory of him and reference to his unjustified death. “Let me spend this moment and spit something for Rashan for was wrongly strangled by the blue man, forcely accused of swallowing a package, when the 50 fucked him and turned him into bagage”. I wanted to reference him as evidence to show my frustration at Police brutality but also to show how needed “black live matters” is. On top of that I reference stop and search by saying “Rest in peace brother only so young what does it take for the feds to see what they done, a joke a mess that’s basically their ego, touching up young men like some peado”. I wanted to make a hard point that it’s just a joke, why are people being victimized for the way they look then suffering because of it. Its pathetic.  

I do understand that the lack of funding to the police force by the Conservatives austerity has hit the force hard, but it’s not an excuse for imbecilic behaviour.  I mention this in my piece by saying “Under funding and stretched supplies, but you still interested in taking lives, but not taking knives, jheeze you hurt inside. Not nice. Not nice.“. I talk about the subject of knives as in Britain we have a knife crime epidemic. Knives are easy to obtain and conceal and can easily cause a death. Due to the lack of police officers on the street and the closure of youth centres down to the Conservative government there simply aren’t the resources available to bring these criminals to justice and the support for young people just doesn’t exist anymore.

The Tory government went as far to blame other reasons for the rise in knife crime and not them cutting police numbers and closing youth centres. Amber Rudd the home secretary blamed numerous matters, such as music and videos posted online on youtube. She said that the use of violent words and actions has had a dramatic affect on young people’s minds. By posting these music videos online apparently “glamourise” the lifestyle of a “thug”. On top of that the illegal creation and importation of crack cocaine has created the perfect environment for gangs to unleash terror on neighbouring gangs due to disputes over unpaid money. The third reason Rudd claimed to have contributed to the rise in knife crime is Alcohol consumption. Once consumed alcohol can greatly affect one’s decision making and can alter your physical ambition. Additionally Rudd claims that crowded pubs can assign people to inappropriate behaviour, even though there is little evidence to support this. People’s “age” and “character” is just as much of a contribution to, according to Rudd. The way people socialise and communicate affects their character which leads to knife crime. Personally I feel that these accusations are rather bland and have little to no evidence to support them. Furthermore Rudd claims there are more contributing factors, which I personally feel I are pathetically hilarious. For instance she had suggested that knife crime has always been an issue and because of better police records they can document more, leading to knife crime appearing to have grown. The last contributing factor is apparently wider problems across society. The statement Rudd made was rather bland as she accuses lack of communication because parents, police and youth workers from fighting knife crime together.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/two-uk-top-cops-warn-12449585

Track 2 - Our Freedom, Our Future

Our freedom, our future is a track I created based upon poverty, Brexit and the austerity of the Conservative government. Since the Tories came into government back in 2010 the country has changed dramatically. David cameron's choice to introduce Brexit and a national vote on the matter has led to the term “immigrants” being used as a term for race. Since the vote in 2016, hate crime has risen. I wanted to show this in the rap and I start it off by saying “I’m not defending my race or culture, but I’m defending that fallen soldier, to fight was not his wish, but to serve was his life, sad thing is that no one cares cause he’s not white”. I’m not talking directly about a soldier, but I’m just simply talking about strong people dying for no need, such as a result of gang crime and knife crime, but little is truly being done about it because they’re not white. Towards the end of the piece I continue to talk about brexit as well to highlight its controversy and I say “cause opportunity will give us a life, but instead you vote for the rich arsehole party every time, the same party that is happy to walk away without a deal, then in that case just have it repealed”. Food banks have increased with up to 1 million people using them weekly. Dominic Raab, Conservative MP claims that people who use food banks aren’t actually in poverty, but those with a cash flow and management problem. This tory MP then went on to say that he is thankful for them. As great as food banks are, it’s a shame that they exist in the sense that it’d be a dream for poverty not to exist. Yet with Tories in control of the government, they don’t seem bothered by these figures.

Alongside food banks, children's school dinners seem to be getting the axe, much like children’s milk did back in the 80’s with Margaret Thatcher in charge of government, claiming that there simply isn’t the money. To highlight this matter I said “Free school meals sound like a dream, but you don’t want rich people paying for those in need”. The rich people are the government. Majority of MP’s send their children to private schools as opposed state funded schools. Because they don’t experience poverty and lack of money, they are so unintouch with the country and it's true needs. So by cutting school dinners you’re leading to children falling hungry.

Police numbers have been cut by more than 20,000 and they wonder why anti social behaviour and violent crime are on the raise. Police claim that violent crime has risen by more than 20% since the tories came into government, however the government have found from their own individual research that it’s only 14%. Regardless, the percentage has risen. The ignorant among us would claim it’s “all the immigrants” being allowed into this country causing the problem, when in reality it’s a lack of care to society by the Conservative government. Such as cutting funds to school clubs, youth centres and even the beloved library. Shamefully up to 15% of mental nurses have been cut since 2010. We have pay caps for the public sector, we have benefits being cut to those who depend on them. One of the lines from my rap is “Cutting benefits to those who need it, but givng rich arseholes more tax cuts, can you believe this”. I’m outing the complete carelessness of the Conservative party. The NHS is crippinling to pieces and we have a man running it who has written a book called “ Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party “. The book talks about the “denationalisation” of the NHS, to replace it with an insurance system. It’s a book co written by Tory mp’s, one of which is Health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt. The cabinet reshuffle in January saw Jeremy Hunt move from “Health care secretary” to “Health and social care secretary”. By doing so Hunt will merge both healthcare and social care together, shared funding. It’s the worst thing. You’ll have people taking up hospital beds who simply need help going to the toilet and taking medication. That simply isn’t right. It’s more than clear that the tories are trying to tear the NHS apart in order to find an excuse to privatise it. This is already being done by selling off property on hospital land for investment by other companies such “Virgin Care”.

Track 3 Conflict catalyst -   

Conflict catalyst is a track that talks about the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia under a conservative government. We are second in the world when it comes to arms trading. There is an international law that states if you sell your weapons to one country, they can’t use them on you, so they can’t attack you, even if you’re not really an “ally”. This is perfect, however its rather bad as well. Countries who thrive off of war use them, Saudi Arabia love war and so there for thrive off of them. They are in war with Yemen at the moment and it’s all rather ironic. Not only are we selling arms to Saudi Arabia who have links to ISIS, we are giving foreign aid to Yemen, the country they are bombing. How on earth does this make sense, it’s almost comical.

Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest places in the world, but also one of the number one human rights abusers. Sharia law is in place within the country which is an incredibly ancient Islamic law as its over 1400 years old. How on earth you are able to apply ancient laws to a modern society. You can’t. As a part of the law there are crimes classed as “Hudud” which include Baggery, Adultery and theft as well as many more. These crimes are punishable by public demonstration via lashing, stoning, removal of body parts and beheading and somehow in a modern day world they still exist. Out of anger I created the bar “Happily cut a next man for liking a man, happily stone a girl for having a baby that ain’t planned, intimacy in public is illegal, the heck they doing beating their own people”. I didn’t even need to changed anything it was practically freestyle and I’ve kept it to use in my work because sometimes thinking on the spot fuels your creativity.

We openly sell weapons to this country and with our knowledge of their breach of human rights, our conservative government doesn’t care. Money over morals. The fact that they have more of our own weapons then we do is ironic.

Track 4 Political Correctness:

Political Correctness is something that has taken the world by storm in the past 10 years. The point of it is to ensure people aren’t discriminated against but because of this people who have never fell victim to not being represented feel that it is not needed. Not only that but some people who fall victim to discrimination find themselves just as frustrated as for now they are being wrongly represented. An example is a term called “emoji blackface” which is people using an emoji of another race when they are a different race. I have heard of it before but recently two rather well known people had bought it up. Comedian Darren Harriott bought it up as part of his set and made a mockery of it saying how its political correctness gone mad. I can completely agree, he said why couldn’t emoji’s just of stayed yellow and there’d be no problem. A rapper known as Big narstie also bought it up in a live stream while having his hair cut. He said how it’s all been taken way too seriously and emoji’s as a whole are more of a joke than a second language. Especially with new emoji’s being released often it’s almost a way to dull subject matters down and for the subject to make more sense to a wider audience, such as hyroglifics.

There are far more subject matters that I have put into my work as I feel that everyone is born the way they are and everything should accept that. No one should be put in a box as at the end of the day someone else’s life and routine of life won’t ever affect yours. Within the piece I explain how political correctness does more good than bad as it allows people to no only feel accepted but also to push unwanted language and descriptions to the side.

Within the piece I reference Animal Farm, a book by George Orwell. One of the quotes is “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. Animal farm is a book based about war and the movement of politics throughout history. I am using this quote in my work to show that no human is no better than another, no money, ethnicity, job, sex life can change that.

[yogenderranawat]

via Bravehearts : Indian Defense forces