No, but seriously. Am I going to have to do this for another 200 days? Leicester has retracted to lockdown again. I went looking for trend graphs for the UK today. As far as I can understand it -- and why isn't the World Health Organisation the canonical source? -- is that the UK is on approximately the same trend line as Italy. National trends seem quite odd in a scenario like this, don't they?
I found a good tool called Our World in Data which is good for showing/hiding nations, and switching from linear to logarithmic graphs. Here's a view of COVID data for UK + USA + Australia.
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| I don't know if any of these are "excess deaths" |
You may recall back on Day 76 -- that's the day that the giant yellow BLACK LIVES MATTER letters were posted in Washington DC -- I mentioned Roosevelt's New Deal, wondering if something of a similar scale may be required in the aftermath of COVID-19. That may be. And then, to my surprise, Boris Johnson described his own announcement as "Rooseveltian" as he proclaimed a BUILD campaign that's approximately 0.6% the scale of the New Deal announced in the 30s. Thank you to Marina Hyde for your evisceration of this egotism.
But almost the best part about Hyde's article is her link to the "majestic review" in the New Statesman entitled One man who made history” by another who seems just to make it up: Boris on Churchill by Sir Richard Evans. When he comes up on family calls Mum says she admires his Spectator writing talents, so Mum? If you read this, have a look at this review. To give you a flavour:
At many junctures in the book, the ability to think historically deserts its author.
I sit here in my kitchen happily digesting a fantastic if slightly too salty frittata starring zucchini and feta cheese with Making of Frozen 2 in the background feeling at once content and not. Today's been an odd and good day all at once; celebration and trepidation wrapped in writing (things other than this). I'll tell you more tomorrow. I didn't do any Black history study today.