22 NEWS Talking points
THEWEEK 14 March 2020
WalkingintoFlorence’sUffiziGallery,
touristsmustusuallybracethemselves
forcrowds.Hometooneofthemost
famouspaintingsintheworld,
Botticelli’sBirthofVenus,thegallery
receivessome5,4 00 visitorsaday,
whocrowdarounditsRenaissance
masterpiecestendeep.ButlastSaturday,
saidMatthewBellintheDailyMail,the
Uffizi’sgrandroomswereeerilysilent.
Inadesperatebidtoovercomea
“climateoffear”causedbythe
coronavirus,theCitycouncilhad
abolishedentryfeesatallofits
museums–tonoavail:therewere
onlyahandfulofpeopleinthegallery.
Meanwhile,outside,thecrowdsoftouristswhonormallythrong
Florence’sstreetshadmeltedawaytonothing.Alocalsandwich
vendorsaidtradewasdown 8 5%;an80-bedroomhotelhadjust
oneguestlastweekend;hard-to-bookrestaurantshadgivenup
botheringwithareservationregister.Thatwaswhenonlyparts
ofthenorthwereinquarantine,saidTheTimes.Now,the
country’sentire6 0 million-strongpopulationisinlockdown.
TheUffiziitself isclosed, alongwithallothermuseums.Eventhe
Pope,inafilmedSunday address,saidthat hewas“caged” inthe
Vatican library.
QuotingWinstonChurchill,Italy’s
primeminister,GiuseppeConte,said
thathis countrywasfacingits“darkest
hour”, ashe unveilednewmeasures to
containthevirus,saidTheGuardian.
Anyone who hastestedpositiveforitisnow confined totheir
home.Allpublic gatherings arebanned;allsportingevents have
beencancelled,andgyms,swimmingpools,theatresandcinemas
have been closed.Barsand restaurantscanonlyopenbetween
6amand 6 pm,andmustensuretheircustomersremainametre
apart.Theclosureofthecountry’sschools,collegesand
universitieshasbeenextendeduntil3April.Travelbetween
cities isonlyallowedfor“urgent, verifiableworksituationsand
emergenciesor healthreasons”,and employersarebeingurged to
lettheirstaffworkfrom home tolimit travelwithincities.“Weall
mustgivesomethingup for thesake ofItaly,”saidConte. Across
theworld,airlines are cancellingflightstoItaly; Austriaand
Turkeyhave bothimposedrestrictionson visitorsfromItaly.
Inlessthanthreeweeks,morethan820 people inItalyhavedied,
saidTheWashingtonPost. Italiansacceptthatmoreurgentsteps
are required totackle the outbreak,notleast becauseofthe
potentially overwhelming strain itis putting on the health service
inacountrywithrelativelyfewintensive
carebeds.Strictly-imposedquarantine
measuresappeartohaveslowedthe
virus’sspreadinChina,andthelimited
quarantineinthenorthofItalyseemed
tobehavingthesameeffect.Butthis
totallockdownwillcomeatahigh
economicprice.Evenbeforethe
virusstruck,Italywas“poisedfora
recession”:ithasexperiencedalmostno
growthfor20years;publicdebtstands
atawhopping135%ofGDP;youth
unemploymentisat 33 %.Now
businessesacrossthecountryface
bankruptcy,andthegovernmentis
havingtoconsiderwaysofsofteningthe
economicblow:onTuesday,itannouncedthatindividualscould
suspendtheirmortgagepayments;otherdebtholidaysarelikely.
Asallthisgoeson,therestoftheworldiswatchingwithkeen
interest:Italyhasbecome“alaboratoryforhowacountrycan
fightthevirus”,andhownormallifecancollapseinafewweeks.Italyhassomelessonsforwhatnottodo:forinstance,don’tban
flightsfromChina,saidForeign Policy.Italy didthat inJanuary,
butit didn’tstoppeople comingfromChina:theycamein on
connectingflightsinstead.Itjustmade
itmuchhardertomonitorarrivals.And
inatimeofnationalcrisis,don’tbotch
your communications withthe public,
saidRachelDonadioin The Atlantic.
Lastweek, adraftplantoput16 million
peopleintheno rthof Italyunder
quarantinewasleakedtothepress –promptingthousandstorush
to the stations togetthelasttrainssouth. Someofthemarelikely
to havebeen infected. ThePM–havingspentweeks telling
Italianstheyhadnothingto worryabout–then compoundedthe
senseofpanic bygivingapressconferenceinthemiddle ofthe
night (2am). Even now,manyItalians don’tknowwhatthenew
rules amountto,or howtheyaretobeenforced. There have been
otherunintendedconsequencesbesides,saidTimemagazine.For
instance, elderlypeople, beingmostvulnerabletothe virus,have
beenurged tostayathome,but asaresult ofschools closing,
manyarenow takingfull-time careof theirgrandchildren.Actcalmlybutactfast:that’s the key lesson, saidPaolo Giordano
inCorriere dellaSera.InJanuary, Italianslookedat Chinaand
thoughtit couldn’t happentous. Nowothercountries mustlook
at Italyandremember thatweareallon the sametimeline. What
happensin Rometodaywillbe Frankfurt orLondontomorrow.
It’s not “if” or “where”,it’s “when”and “how”.Battling the virus: Italy goes into lockdown“Italyisalaboratoryforhowwecan
fightthevirus–andhownormallife
cancollapseinafewweeks”What happens in Rome today will be London tomorrowDuring the 1960 presidential
campaign,John F. Kennedy
lost his voice and wrote notes
on legal pads to communicate
with aides. Those notes have
just been put up for auction in
Dallas, Texas, and they’re not
all about high politics. “I got
into the blondes,” he admits
in one scrawl (his wifeJackie
wasabrunette). He worries
that the press might “hit me”
by publishing details of his
indiscretions, and concludesmournfully: “I suppose that if I
win, my poon [a naval term for
whoring] days are over.”Joe Biden’s slogan is “No
malarkey!”, but the Democratic
presidential front runner’s
campaign has seenaseries of
strange outbursts. Biden has
calledastudenta“lying, dog-
faced pony soldier”; and has
launched intoastill-
unexplained reverie about
children stroking his “hairy
legs” when he worked as a
lifeguard. On Monday, he
forgot the Declaration of
Independence: “We hold these
truths to be self-evident,” he
began. “All men and women
created by the [pause]... you
know, you know, the thing.”
And on Tuesday, he got into
afurious rowwithaMichiganfactory worker over gun rights.
”You’re full of shit,” he told the
man, before threatening “to go
outside with your ass”.Kiki Dee’s1976 duet withElton
John,Don’t Go Breaking My
Heart,took the Rocket Man to
the top of the UK charts for the
first time in his career. But has
the pair’s friendship stood the
test of time? Well, sort of, Dee
told music magazine The Beat.
“Every birthday he sends me
an orchid inapot,” she said.
“It used to beamagnum of
champagne. ButIguess his
birthday list is quite vast
these days, so he has to
make cutbacks somewhere.”Pick of the week’sGossip