Not far from where I grew up, there’s a village called Eyam with a story to tell – a story of a plague, and of tragedy, and of heroism.
That old tale sits easily with stories of our modern response to the pandemic: too many people seem unwilling to suffer the slightest inconvenience to help others.
Has human nature really changed so much? Or might it be that the old story, and the new ones, are leading us astray?
China and the UK have clashed in recent months over a draconian new security law in Hong Kong and the Chinese tech company Huawei. The Guardian’s Tania Branigan examines whether a much-promoted ‘golden era’ between the two countries is at an end.
In 2015 George Osborne, the then chancellor, promised a ‘golden decade’ for Chinese-British relations as he drummed up support for new trade opportunities and inward investment. That has all changed after China imposed a harsh new security law in Hong Kong and now the UK government is preparing to backtrack on an agreement to use the Chinese firm Huawei in its 5G infrastructure.
The Guardian’s leader writer Tania Branigan tells Rachel Humphreys that this new phase in relations is going to be difficult for the UK. Last week, Beijing’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, warned: “China wants to be UK’s friend and partner. But if you treat China as a hostile country, you would have to bear the consequences.”
It comes as pressure mounts on China internationally to be open about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic first seen in Wuhan at the end of last year, and increasing outrage at the treatment of Uighur Muslims. But there is an acceptance too in government that even if the ‘golden era’ is over, China remains a vital trade relationship as well as a crucial player in global affairs, not least the battle to reduce carbon emissions.
Maoism: the changing face of a revolutionary ideology. Julia Lovell, Professor in Modern Chinese History and Literature at Birkbeck, University of London explores the origins and development of global Maoism; Alpa Shah, Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE, provides a glimpse into the lives of a group of Maoist guerrillas in modern day India and Dennis Tourish, Professor of Leadership and Organisation Studies at the University of Sussex, looks at Maoist organisations in the context of his research into political cults. Revised repeat.
Why are even the smartest, most competent statisticians seemingly incapable of making a solid prediction about... seemingly everything? It's because making predictions is tricky, and so much media we read about statistics can be super misleading. Let's find out why in this Wisecrack Edition on The Trouble with Political Predictions.
A choice to turn a church into a warehouse is rather interesting, since a warehouse had a symbolic meaning in the Soviet Union. Some researchers believe that converting churches into warehouses “was not the abolition of the holy but, so to speak, its replacement. The warehouse is just as ideal an order in the material world as the church is in the spiritual world. The warehouse is a materialist church, but instead of collecting people who are seeking in prayer an exalted form of the soul, it houses a multitude of objects that have found a precise inventoried form.”[2]
Nevertheless, according to various data from 1953 to 1959 nearly 15-20% of churches were closed while some of sacral buildings went through radical transformations. Vilnius Cathedral Basilica (1783) by Gucevičius was closed in 1949. During 1950 sculptures of saints, which were on the rooftop were removed and destroyed. Since the Cathedral was closed a lot of artifacts were stolen while the interior was ravaged. The Cathedral become part of the Museum of Art and was in1956 transformed into a gallery. The building was returned to the Catholic community in 1988. [...]
Kaunas Mosque also known as Vytautas the Great Mosque is one of four remaining mosques in Lithuania. Its design reminds the mosques in Northern Africa, a compact, small-volume mosque combines historical forms with oriental motifs like an elliptical dome and a small minaret, which was never used for its traditional purpose.
But now, more than half a year after the pandemic broke out, an increasing number of people are seeing COVID-19 not solely as a disaster, but also as a possible catalyst for reforms. And as an event that has torn down mental barriers that were hitherto thought permanent. [...]
Claussen said he was particularly impressed by the German government's Neustart Kultur ("Culture Relaunch") intitiative, a €1-billion ($1.2 billion) scheme passed by parliament at the end of July. "There is no premium for scrapping cars, but money for art and culture," he noted, referring to aborted plans to boost the car industry by paying car owners to trade old cars for new. For Claussen, this was a sign that Germany still saw itself as a country that values culture even amid the coronavirus crisis. [...]
German Labor Minister Hubertus Heil is already working on a bill that will give people the right to work from home if possible. Heil, from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), has pushed for changes during the pandemic — especially, for example, in the meat industry. After COVID-19 outbreaks in several slaughterhouses, contracts under which workers are employed by sub-contractors will be banned in the sector, along with the use of agency workers.
The coronavirus is also speeding up some climate protection measures in the energy sector. Politicians were forced to link both the German government's €130-billion aid package and the historic €1.8-trillion EU aid package to climate protection measures.
