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THEWEEK2November 2019

Controversy of the week

The age of protest

The world is inarage.Acros sthe globe, angrypeople are

taking to the streets invast numbers. Sometimes the proximate

cause isaprice hike:inIndia, itwasofonions;in Chile,of the

fares onthemetro. In Lebanon,it wasanew taxonusing

WhatsApp; inFrance, higherfuel dutiessparked thegilets

jaunesprotests. Buttheprotests elsewhere–inHong Kong,

Moscow,Barcelona, Algiers–aremore overtlyaresponseto

political repressionand corruption.Anew ageofrevolution

is uponus,and th ough thecausesare various,theyhave a

commonthread,said JoshuaKeat ingonSlate: austerity and

theworseninginequality it brings. Globalisedcapi talismhas

increasedprosperity forsome,butmany feel thebenefitshave

passed themby –thatthey’vebeendenied accesstothe

promisedland of middle-class status. And withthe worrying

prospectof acollapse in economicgrow th,the middle classestoo feel squeezed,saidFareed Zakaria

in TheWashington Post.Andwhat’s more, they havethe capacitytovoicetheiranger.

There havebeen other momentsin history–think 1848 or 1968–whenmass protesthas brokenout

in lots ofdifferent countries, saidGideon Rachman in theFT. What makes2019distinctive is that

instead of beingorganisedbycentralcommittees,the rebellionsare usually leaderless–“convenedby

smartphoneandinspiredbyhashtags”.InHongKong, forexample, Beijing has struggled in vain to

locat ethe ringleaders. Socialmedia also enables different revoltstoinspireeachother: HongKong

protesters havebeencarryingCatalan flags. Butthere’sone other keyfactorbehindthis year’s wave

of revolt,saidSimonTisdall inTheGuardian: youth.True, theyoung arealways at the forefrontof

demandsfor change. Butwhat’ sstriking aboutthis pointinh istory is that thereare more of them

than ever befo re. “About41%ofthe globalpopulati on of 7.7billionis aged 24 or under”; in Africa,

wher emass protestshave also brokenout in many countries, “41% is under15”.And almostall are

reaching adulthood inaworld scarred by falling living standards, austerity programmes and recession.

Butweneedtobemore specificin locatingthe mainspring ofthis global fr enzy, said NiallFerguson

in The SundayTimes. Corrupt ion, clim atechange, price rises,inequality–it’s true that oneormore

of these may liebehind the various protests,but seldom,if ev er,all.(In Chil e, forexample,inequality

hasactuallybeen falling.) Butthere’sone fa ctor that does unitethem, afactorthatalsoappliedin

1848 andthe 1960s(but not on suchagargantuan scale):the huge andrapid expansion in student

numbers. It turns out that “in every country where large-scale protestshave beenreported in thepast

yea r, highereducation is at an all-time high”.In Chile,theshare of therelevant agegroup in tertiary

education has risen from 18% in the late 1980s to 90% today; in HongKong, from13% to 72%;

in France, from 34% to 64%. And theresimply aren’tthe jobsfor them. It is this mismatch between

“theunpa ralleled glut of graduatesand thedemand forthem” that is fillingourstreets with rage.

RageagainstthesysteminHongKong

Spirit of the age

Good weekfor:

Airlinepassengers,with news that easyJet is working with

GatwickAirport to findwaysofreducing boarding times.One

methodinvolvesboarding thewind ow seat passengers first,

starting attheback, before the middle andaisleones,which

couldreduceboardingtimes by upto 10%.

Bad week for:

Keith Vaz,theLabour MP,who facesbeing suspended from

the Commons forallegedlymeeting twomalesex workersinhis

flat and offering to buy cocaine for them in 2016. The suspension

was recommended by theCommonsstand ards committee,which

noted thatthe MP’s de fence,thatthe menwerethere todisc uss

redecorating his flat,was “not believable and, indeed, ludicrous”.

Smartmotorways,after thechief executive of Highways

England admitted theroads –which have ahardshoulderthat

can be used as afourthlane during pea ktraffi cperiods–were too

confusing, andthat the schemewouldnot berolled outfurthe r.

RoryStewart,whowas accusedofracism fordescribing three

young blackmenhemet in London ononeofhis walking tours

as “minor gangsters”.Infact, they wereIrish musicians(and had

chatted amicablytothe then Toryleadership contender,until he

told them hewasapolitician,atwhich point theywalkedoff).

Heathrow Airport,which apologised toMary Beard, afte rthe

64-year-old classicistrevealed thatsecu rity staff hadforcedher to

strip to her“scrappy undies”in frontofother passengers. It seems

they hadinsisted sheremovehertunic ,sayin gitcounted as a

jacket,altho ughshe hadbarelyanyt hingonunderneath.

Grenfellinquiryreport

Theoffic ialreport into the

Grenfell Tower fire has

condemned the London Fire

Brigade (LFB) for “serious

shortcomings” in its

response to the blaze on

14 June 2017, in which 72

people died. In his 1,000-

page report published on

Wednesday, Sir Martin

Moore-Bick praised the

courage of individual fire-

fighters, but said the LFB’s

preparations for suchafire

were “gravely inadequate”.

It should not, he said, have

stuck to its advice that

residents “stay put”, and

should have had an

evacuation plan in place. Had

it evacuated the block earlier,

the death toll may have been

lower. He also said staff had

not been trained in how to

recognise the need for an

evacuation, or organise one,

and thatafailure to share

information had left officers

withoutaclear picture of the

unfolding disaster. He also

criticised the LFB’s

Commissioner, Dany Cotton,

for saying that she wouldn’t

have changed the LFB’s

response. This, he said, was

“remarkably insensitive”.

The report follows the first

phase of the inquiry, which

looked into what happened

on the night. The second

phase, due to begin in

January, will examine the

events leading up to the fire,

including the refurbishment

of the building.

Pollwatch

In 1989,40%of Britons said

homosexual relationships

were immoral. Now,13%

do. The proportion of people

who disapprove of drug use

and full-frontal male nudity

on TV has also fallen.

However, the proportion

of British adults who think

having an affair with a

married person is immoral

has risen, from52%to55%.

The Policy Institute/

The Times

57%of UK adults say it

would have been better

not to have hadaBrexit

referendum;29%disagree.

87%of Remain voters say

there shouldn’t have been

avote, and7%say there

should. The figures for

Leavers are32%and57%.

Opinium/The Observer

50%of Britons want a

general election;23%don’t.

YouGov

Unileverissavinghundreds

ofthousandsofpoundsa

yearbyusinganartificial

intelligencesystemto

assesscandidatesinjob

interviews.Intheone-way

videointerviewsnowused

by many large companies,

candidates are sent

questions and must record

themselves answering

them. Normally,ahuman

recruiter then analyses the

footage, but Unilever has

invested in software that

checks candidates’ facial

expressions, body language

and word choice, to look

for traits deemed to be

predictive of job success.

Netflix has outraged many

film directors by trialling a

feature that will enable time-

poor viewers to speed up

films and TV shows. Using

the “speed watch” facility,

an hour-long show could be

seen in 40 minutes.