Convenience Big Store: The Covid inquiry is doing nothing but harm

4 December, 2023

In the headlines

Israel's military says it is expanding its ground operation into "all areas" of Gaza. Its forces are pushing into the south of the Palestinian enclave, where more than a million people fled – on Israel's advice – at the start of the war. The COP28 president has claimed there is "no science" which shows that phasing out fossil fuels is needed to limit global warming to 1.5C, says The Guardian. Sultan Al Jaber, who also heads the United Arab Emirates's state oil company, told a virtual event that abandoning oil and gas entirely would "take the world back into caves". The UK's only giant pandas are leaving for China today after 12 years in Scotland. Yang Guang and Tian Tian (pictured), who have been the star attractions at Edinburgh Zoo since their arrival in 2011, are heading home after the lease agreement to keep them ended. 🐼😢

Comment

Mark Sedwill at the Covid inquiry

The Covid inquiry is doing nothing but harm

Rather than treating the Covid inquiry as an "opportunity to learn lessons", says Matthew Syed in The Sunday Times, organisers are subjecting those involved to a succession of "ducking-stool inquisitions" by a slick KC looking for "gotcha moments that might play well on the TV news". What's most worrying is how this "dubious theatre" will add to the already toxic culture of British politics. When we give in to the desire to scapegoat and punish politicians and their advisers, "the ultimate victims are, invariably, us". Because the consequence of a blame culture, "as night follows day", is that "fewer talented people go into politics" and innovative policymaking is replaced by defensive paralysis.

Just look at the furore around Mark Sedwill who, as cabinet secretary in 2020, suggested that government arrange "chickenpox-style parties" to achieve herd immunity. This is "precisely the kind of idea that should be aired during an emergency", as part of a process of thrashing out possible solutions. Attacking him only makes talented people less likely to contribute innovative ideas to policy discussions, for fear of exactly the kind of inquisition officials are now facing. When we blame people for making complex judgments, "when we humiliate them", when we pretend it was obvious all along, "we do not make government better". We simply end up with "inferior politicians and sclerotic decision-making" by ensuring success in politics is about nothing more than "buck-passing and arse-covering".

Photography

More than 1,000 photographers from 54 countries entered this year's Natural Landscape Photography Awards. Top images include a shot of lava at Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland; a golden sunrise illuminating the coastal mountains of British Columbia; mystical trees in a Caledonian forest in Scotland; sand dunes in the UAE's Liwa Desert glimpsed through fog; and the ancient woods of Vancouver Island. See the full list here.

Zeitgeist

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl warned that children shouldn't watch too much television, says The Times. "It rots the senses in the head! It kills imagination dead!" It turns out he might be right. In a recent study, youngsters were either shown a short video clip or asked to read a passage from a story, and then asked to imagine different objects. The video-watchers were on average 7% slower than the readers. 📺📉

The great escape

Dusk on the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Getty

Travel company Go2Africa has just unveiled what it claims is "the world's most expensive safari", says Forbes: a 24-day trip costing just over $690,000 for a family of four. High-end holidaymakers will be whisked around six countries in southern and eastern Africa by private jet, taking in sights including Victoria Falls, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and the white sands of the Seychelles. Highlights include hot air balloon rides, gorilla trekking and even a personal film crew to document the "journey of a lifetime". Book your spot, for a cool $172,545 per person, here.

Comment

Javier Milei: a "blow-it-all-up" mentality. Tomas Cuesta/Getty

Anti-elite rage is reshaping the world

I was one of the few pundits who thought in early 2016 that Donald Trump "not only could, but probably would", win the election, says Andrew Sullivan on Substack. "I'm feeling the nausea again." In the US, the UK, and other liberal democracies across the world, "the mood is just ugly – a deep pessimism suffused with barely stifled fury". One factor is mass immigration, and the establishment's indifference to people's concerns about it. Another is inflation. These problems are fueling a "blow-it-all-up" mentality that is seeing insurgents turfing incumbents out of office. There's Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Javier Milei in Argentina. Sweden has lurched to the right; Germany's far-right AfD party is surging in the polls. All these movements have one thing in common: "contempt for elites".

That's why I find Joe Biden's re-election so hard to imagine. He is "the incumbent of all incumbents" – a creature of Washington who first became a senator in 1972. His key argument is that Trump is "too big a risk to take". But how is that argument working out? Impeachments and indictments have strengthened the Republican frontrunner, not weakened him. And voters across the world are "rushing towards the risky candidates, not away from them". Now, personally, I'd never vote for Trump. But I understand the "rage" people feel against progressive elites, with their "indifference to crime", their hatred of Western civilisation, "their piety and certainty and smugness". That rage is "destroying incumbents the world over". Joseph Robinette Biden Jr doesn't seem like the one to buck the trend.

From the archives

This BBC report from 1977 investigates the "fastest-growing craze" among youngsters in the UK: skateboarding. The video shows whippersnappers whizzing around on London's South Bank, an area which still serves as a skatepark today. The voiceover describes the US import as "a kind of cross between surf-riding and roller skating, and with no less potential for the individual to show off all his artistry and skill – or lack of it". Watch the whole clip here.

On the way back

Toupées are undergoing a renaissance among younger men, says Vice. Businesses in the UK and US are reporting a "surge in interest" for the humble hairpieces, and TikTok is full of videos of "miraculous" before-and-after transformations. One reason is that the quality of toupées has improved significantly. You can treat them "pretty much like normal hair": washing them, styling them, even swimming in them. Of course, "it's fine to be bald". But it's nice to have options, and the toupée "might be as good as any".

Snapshot

Snapshot answer

It's an unexploded bomb which has been sitting in a Welsh couple's garden for more than 100 years. Owner Sian Edwards says she used to bang her trowel against it to remove soil while gardening, believing it to be a "dummy" device with no charge. Last week, a police officer informed her he had spotted the bomb and would have to inform the Ministry of Defence. The following day, the bomb squad turned up, discovered it was "live", took it to a nearby quarry, and blew it up.

Quoted

"If one cannot command attention by one's admirable qualities one can at least be a nuisance."