In how the Covid-19 pandemic has spread in Europe and the rest of the world, there is an outstanding feature. Over the months, all countries got a big hit, though not all in the same way or at the same time. Time after time, countries which had managed to control the wave of infections and were praised for the achievement, ended up soon afterwards getting knocked up as much as had been those which initially appeared weak, undecided and worse.

Recently Germany and Portugal, which not so long ago were considered to have succeeded in navigating through the pandemic undercurrents, featured among the worst hit. Germany had been the country which practised the strictest protection and enforcement approaches.

The temptation is to conclude that there’s no difference in outcomes between introducing strict control rules and loosening up. Yet such a conclusion might be premature.

For one would have to check whether the initial success against Covid-19  brought complacency in its wake, which then cancelled the benefits accrued by the original strict appraoch.

And one would also have to take into account whether political considerations took hold in the leadership of the country concerned, which loosened the grip by which it previously was implementing tight controls.      

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NAVALNY

For many years, I have followed with scepticism the anti-Russia and anti-Putin (or anti his management of Russia) campaigns that were mounted. I believed they carried major manipulative elements that sought to assist mercenary forces in Russia, backed by obscure political influences, as well as to help “Western” state and private interests which believed they had a vested interest in keeping Russia weak.

In no way did this mean that I assumed the Putin administration was being run by angels. But it seemed evident to me that there was every interest in certain quarters to maintain the demonisation of Putin. I still believe this.

However the Navalny case exceeds all limits of how one can support the stand taken by the Putin administration. The version it gives of the facts cannot be believed. The way by which street protestors have been repressed is unbelieveable. Russia is not some Burkina Faso, with all due respect to this latter country.

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POVERTY

In Europe and beyond, it is obvious that poverty is increasing and will continue to do so. In the “poverty” category, I would include those “at risk of poverty”.

If the income of so many economic sectors and enterprises has declined so much that many are close to the brink of collapse, if people are spending less... is it not clear that disposable incomes will have contracted overall, and that those who were netting lower incomes, will have now been receiving less? No government – of left or right – can be held directly responsible for this result.

The real challenge should not be that of insisting that poverty has been kept at a distance – whether this is correct or not. It is to discover where poverty is really present, openly or under cover. It is to discover how to compesnate for it most effectively.