the times | Tuesday July 21 2020 1GM 31
Leading articles
other aspects of the pandemic response, Britain
has lagged other European and Asian countries,
where the use of masks has been mandatory for
months. Yet even now, there are many in Britain
who are refusing to follow the new rules. There
have even been protests in London by self-styled
libertarians who object to being “muzzled” on civil
liberties grounds.
This is misguided. If anything, the evidence that
masks can slow the transmission of the virus is
growing. In one study by the University of Florida
published last month, researchers found that a
double-layered cotton mask limited the spread of
droplets to an average of 2.5in compared with an
average of 8ft for an uncovered cough. Another
study, at the University of California, suggests that
by limiting the amount of exposure to the virus,
a mask could lead to a milder infection. Other
studies indicate that masks don’t just protect other
people but the wearer too. Indeed Robert Redfield,
director of the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, has said he believes that if everybody
wore masks, the pandemic could be brought under
control in America over the next four to eight
weeks.
Bringing the pandemic under control is vital not
just from a public health perspective but from aneconomic one too. There is growing evidence that
countries that have succeeded best in suppressing
the virus are enjoying swifter economic recoveries.
In Germany, for example, where the rate of
infection is low, the numbers of people dining in
restaurants are up 5 per cent year on year. In
contrast in the US, where 45 out of 50 states are
seeing a rapid rise in infections, the numbers
eating out are down by 60 per cent. This suggests
that it is public confidence, which is closely tied to
control of the pandemic, rather than the easing of
lockdown restrictions, that is key to reviving the
economy.
In this respect, the government ought to be
doing more to encourage the use of masks. In the
US, some surveys suggest their use in public has
now reached 75 per cent. It is far below that in
Britain. Ministers have been slow to set an
example by wearing masks themselves in public
and have sown confusion with mixed messages.
What is now needed is a public information
campaign, led by high-profile figures up to and
including the Queen, to drive home the message
that covering up in public is a civic responsibility.
Everyone needs to accept that in the absence
of a vaccine, the price of a return to any kind of
normality is to look a little odd.The London Challenge was based on a partner-
ship between schools and with the Department
for Education. There was intensive intervention
in struggling institutions and an emphasis on
inspection. Teach First encouraged top graduates
into the teaching profession. The scheme was
extended to primary schools in London in 2008.
Reports from Ofsted in 2006 and 2010 both found
that GCSE results in London had improved faster
than in England as a whole. A report from the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2014 concluded
that “during the period of the London Challenge,
secondary school performance in London saw a
dramatic improvement, and local authorities in
inner London went from the worst-performing to
the best-performing nationally”.
One other aspect of the London Challenge that
has featured in every evaluation is the academies
programme, which imported effective leadership.
The academies were often sponsored and the
extra funding paid for additional tuition. At the
London Academy of Excellence, for example, the
intellectual weight comes from a consortium of
private schools, which includes Brighton Collegeand Eton, and the financial heft comes from the
HSBC bank. Academy schools have not been
popular everywhere. Some local authorities
dislike their autonomy and resent the extra
funding they attract.
These ideological objections need to be
abandoned. Academies have been developed in
some of the poorest boroughs in the country and
they have selected pupils from low-income
families for their potential to get to the top. The
formula is certainly working because London’s
pupils do a lot better than those from other cities.
Fifteen per cent of students from London got into
a Russell Group university in 2017-18. In the West
Midlands, only 10 per cent did so.
At national level, education policy has been
largely bipartisan since the late 1980s. The Baker
reforms to inspection at the end of the Thatcher
period, the academy programme of the Blair
government and its extension by Michael Gove
as education secretary have created a schooling
system that has been greatly improved. London is
where these reforms have come together and
pupils in the capital have been the winners.ancient world. Athenian democracy coexisted with
slavery. The greatest minds of the age advocated
ideas that seem repugnant in the light of modern
history. Plato wanted a selective breeding pro-
gramme, in which men and women of exceptional
physical and intellectual prowess should mate
often, with their offspring reared in communal
nurseries. Aristotle argued against bringing up
children with physical impairments. Infanticide
was widely practised.
Even so, adult disability was recognised and
seen as the task of the state to make provision for.
Whereas some cultures saw sickness as punishmentfor sin or a sign of demonic possession, the dignity
of those with disability is built into Greek myth. In
The Odyssey, Homer depicts the god Hephaestus
cruelly suffering the infidelity of Aphrodite, “who
has always despised me for my lameness”. In the
6th century BC, Athens introduced a grant for
those who had been maimed in war. The welfare
was later extended to all poor male citizens who
were disabled, regardless of cause.
The Enlightenment traces its roots to the
thinking of Hellenic civilisation. It is fitting if
modern notions of the treatment of disability
should have resonance with ancient Greece too.Wear a Mask
A public information campaign is needed to drive home the message that
using masks is important to suppressing the pandemic and reviving the economy
It has been clear since the start of the pandemic
that life would not fully return to normal until
either society had acquired some degree of
immunity to Covid-19, most likely via a vaccine, or
effective treatments had been discovered. The past
few days have raised hopes of breakthroughs on
both fronts. Early trials of a vaccine candidate
produced by AstraZeneca have shown positive
results, according to data released yesterday. That
follows promising trials of other vaccines under
development in Britain, America and Germany.
Meanwhile Synairgen, a British biotech company,
has reported that very early trials of a protein
designed to stimulate the immune system suggest
that it could reduce demand for ventilation in
Covid patients by 79 per cent.
Even so, it is too early to say whether any of
these drugs will fulfil their early promise. The
reality is that the world is likely to be living with
Covid-19 for many more months if not years. That
makes it all the more important that everyone
plays their part in trying to halt the spread of
the virus. This includes wearing masks in all
enclosed public places. On Friday the use of masks
will become mandatory in shops in England. It
has in theory been compulsory to wear masks on
public transport since June. In this, as in so manyEducation Challenge
London has a formula for good schools that other cities should follow
Schools in London were once a byword for poor
performance. On all measures through the 1980s
and 1990s, schools in the capital had worse results
than those in the rest of the country. The troubled
inner-city recruitment was thought sufficient to
explain the poor performance. How could we
expect results in urban areas blighted by poverty
and in which tens of different languages were
spoken? Good policy and high expectations over
two decades have shown that fine results can follow.
The turnaround story began in earnest in 2003,
when the Labour government established the
London Challenge. This was a programme of
change, in consultation with local authorities, that
had the objective of improving standards, creating
more outstanding secondary schools and reducing
the gap between the rich and the poor in the
capital. The London Challenge worked in five
areas, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Lewisham,
Hackney and Westminster, and proved to be a
notable success. We report today on the 44 pupils
from Harris Westminster, an academy chain
in a London Challenge area, who have secured
an offer from Oxford or Cambridge this year.Greek Passage
Architects of the ancient world provided easy access for visitors with disabilities
Only in 2004 did it become a legal requirement in
England and Wales that buildings open to the public
should be accessible to people with disabilities.
Modern architects, it turns out, can profitably
learn from ancient wisdom. Archaeologists have
discovered that some public buildings in ancient
Greece, including temples such as the Sanctuary
of Zeus at Olympia, were constructed with ramps
in place of stairs. Scholars conclude that these were
built in part at least to help access for the sick and
infirm, as well others who lacked easy mobility,
such as small children and pregnant women.
Modern mores are remote from those of theUK: The Commons health and social care
committee holds an evidence session on
management of the coronavirus outbreak;
National Archives’ reading rooms reopen.
Two more spire-like
flowers can now
easily be noticed.
One is purple
loosestrife, which
grows at the edge of
lakes and rivers, and
sometimes in the water itself. Its rich
purplish-pink flowers grow all the way up
the long stalk, and the specimens in the
water seem sometimes to be crashing out of
the reeds. A yellow spire on dry land is great
mullein, which can be as tall as 5ft. It has
very thick, comfortable-looking, downy
leaves at the base, and tightly packed bright
yellow flowers in a sharp point at the top.
Over the ground near by there often grow
the yellow flowers of creeping cinquefoil,
named after its leaves that have five leaflets.
derwent may
In 1942 the first British murder conviction
using palmprint evidence (on a pawnbroker’s
safe; matching a gun) was secured.
Sarah Waters, pictured,
author, Tipping the Velvet
(1998), 54; Lord (Victor)
Adebowale, chairman,
NHS Confederation,
chief executive, Turning
Point (2001-Mar 2020),
58; Heather Angel,
wildlife photographer, 79; Paul Casey, golfer,
43; Michael Connelly, writer, the Harry
Bosch series, 64; Wendy Cope, poet, 75;
Michel de Carvalho, financier, chairman,
CapGen, 76; Paloma Faith, singer, Picking up
the Pieces (2012), Only Love Can Hurt Like
This (2014), 39; Charlotte Gainsbourg,
actress, Antichrist (2009), Melancholia (2011),
49; Richard Gillingwater, chairman, SSE,
the energy company, and Janus Henderson,
the asset management group, 64; Sir
Richard Gozney, lieutenant-governor, Isle
of Man, 69; Josh Hartnett, actor, Black Hawk
Down (2001), 42; Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens),
Muslim activist and singer, Morning Has
Broken (1972), 72; Norman Jewison, director
and producer, In the Heat of the Night (1967),
Fiddler on the Roof (1971), 94; Richard
Johnson, jockey, four-time British Champion
Jump Jockey (2016-19), winner, Cheltenham
Gold Cup (2000, 2018), 43; Ross Kemp,
actor, EastEnders (1990-2006, 2016), and TV
presenter, 56; Baroness (Susan) Kramer, Lib
Dem MP for Richmond Park (2005-10),
minister for transport (2013-15), 70; Stefan
Löfven, prime minister of Sweden, 63; John
Lowe, darts player, world champion (1979,
1987, 1993), 75; John Neill, chairman and
group chief executive, Unipart Group, 73;
Julian Pettifer, broadcaster, presenter,
Panorama (1969-75), 85; Simon Reeve,
author and TV presenter, 48; Barry
Richards, cricketer and commentator, 75;
Jason Roy, cricketer, Surrey and England,
30; Garry Trudeau, cartoonist, 72; Isabell
Werth, equestrian, holds the record for the
most Olympic medals won by an equestrian
athlete, 51; Claire Williams, deputy
team principal, Williams Formula One
racing team, 44; John Woodvine, actor, Z
Cars (1963-69), The Crown (2016), 91; Sir
David Wootton, lord mayor of London
(2011-12), 70.
“Reality has come to seem more and more
like what we are shown by cameras.”
Susan Sontag, writer, critic, film-maker and
human rights activist, On Photography (1977)
Nature notes
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