International – Page 22 – For the fainthearted . . .

Embarrassed to admit that triage decisions are made

Triage seems a term dating back centuries, it is a concept stretching back millennia. It was in a history of the First World War that I first encountered it.

Doctors at the front had to make instant decisions on who they would treat: there were the walking wounded, who would live regardless of what treatment was received; there were those who were going to die, regardless of what intervention was made; and there were those for whom medical attention could be the difference between life and death.

There must have …

Fruitcakes and fundamentalists

“Never let a crisis go to waste,” has become a watchword of contemporary politicians. Such opportunism is not confined to those with political goals: crises offer opportunities for exponents of eclectic views.

Among the conspiracy theorists offering explanations, the coronavirus pandemic has seen the name of David Icke reappearing on national media platforms. Once a genial sports presenter, Icke declared himself the “Son of the Godhead” in 1993. Icke claims that the world is controlled by shape-shifting reptilian aliens. Icke’s views include his endorsement of the anti-Semitic 1905 forgery, The …

On the news

“I was on the news, sir.”

”You were?”

”Yes, there was a television crew and I stood behind the reporter and waved.”

I was not sure how many people would have noticed a boy standing behind a news reporter. The cameraman probably simply closed in on the reporter, cutting out from the shot anything that was around.

I did wonder if the student’s attempt at catching attention was any less important than the attempts of the television news reporters themselves.

The 24 hour rolling news services on television are peopled …

Right as rain

Night had fallen at six o’clock, as it does on every night of the year, and the stillness of the air had been broken with a roll of thunder. Standing at the door of the house, the flashes of lightning made a captivating show. The rain came with force, it hammered on the metal roof of the house. Off the concrete surface of the footpath, the rain bounced high in the air. In seconds, the rain drenched anyone caught without shelter. Rivulets quickly formed and merged into a stream flowing …

Wet and dry

The Financial Times reported on the challenges to the insurance industry posed by the deluge suffered by parts of England and Wales in recent days. How will the cost of the loss of homes and livelihoods be shared?

It has taken more than two decades for the realisation to dawn that climate changes will bring with them considerable cost. In parts of the world, those changes are bringing more than debate about insurance, they are bringing conflict.

The arguments recall a hollow in the ground at the bottom of which …

Positive media

Five months ago, I deleted the Instagram app from my phone. After seven hundred-odd pictures, I had decided that the negative aspects of social media far outweighed any positive features they might have and that I was going to have no further engagement.

My decision would not have registered with Facebook, the owners of Instagram. The one hundred and eighty people who followed my posts would have constituted a mere one-thousandth of a number they would have considered significant.

Walking beside the River Severn at Worcester on a blustery Sunday …