Best articles: Britain NEWS^1513 February 2021 THE WEEKThe autocrats
will always get
their way...
SimonTisdall
TheGuardian
The democraticWestislosingits grip,says Simon Tisdall. Every-
where youlook, “thebadguysare winning”. In Myanmar, the
generals, who’ve just overthrown an elected government, are guilty
of genocidalattacksonRohingyaMuslims;yet the international
communityhasbeen unableor unwilling topunish them.The US
couldconceivablyhave madeadealwithChina tolean on them
–exceptthatPresident Xi,too, standsaccusedof genocideagainst
aMuslimminority, the Uighurs.Then there’s the“underpants
poisoner”inthe Kremlin, whohasfollowed upthebungledhiton
AlexeiNavalny by havingthe oppositi on leaderincarcerated.And
he hasgot away with it.Germany couldhave hurt Moscowby
cancellingitslucrative gaspipelinecontr act with Gazprom;the
EU couldhave insistedon it. Yeteversincehe invaded Georgia
in 2008withoutrepercussions,Putin knowsheand hisbillionaire
croniescanget away with anything.The awful truthisWestern
governments increasinglylack theleverage to curb theautocrats....if we fail to
start facing up
to Beijing
JulietSamuel
TheDailyTelegraph
HowmuchtheworldhaschangedsinceGeorgeOsborneinitiated
thesupposedly“goldenera”ofSino-Britishrelations,saysJuliet
Samuel.In2012,BorisJohnson,tohugeapplause,rodeaBoris
bikearoundBeijing.Cuttotoday,andweseeOfcomstripping
CGTNofitsUKbroadcastlicenceaftertheChinesebroadcaster
wasshownupasamouthpieceoftheChineseCommunistParty
–aclearbreachofUKlicensingrules.It’sjustoneofmanyrows
weinBritainarehavingwithBeijing–overforcedlabourusedin
itsexports,forexample;overHSBCfreezingassetsofHongKong
dissidents.Butwhat’sstrikingisthatnonehavearisenasaresult
ofbreachingtheGovernment’sstrategicpolicyonhandlingsuch
abuses.Why?Becauseitdoesn’thaveone.Ithasidentifiednored
lineswhichBritishinstitutionsshouldbereadytodefend.Ithas
givenuniversitiesnosteeronhowtocounteractBeijing’sthreaton
Britishcampuses–itssurveillanceofthemanyChinesestudents
onwhosefeestheyrely;thepressureitexertsonuniversityofficials
tosuppressdebateonHK.No. 10 mustfaceuptotheneedto
confrontthishostileforce:ithastopullitsheadoutofthesand.The European
Union’s basic
design flaw
Yanis Varoufakis
New Statesman
TheEuroscepticsarewrong,says YanisVaroufakis. Itwasn’t
excessive red tape that led to the EU vaccination fiasco; the failure
was rooted intheEU’sverydesign.TheEU,don’tforget,began
lifeas acartel–theEuropeanCoal and SteelCommunity:like all
cartels it was set up to ensure the cartel founders garner the lion’s
share ofthe benefits. Hence,for allthetalkofpan-European solid-
arity, the key imperativefortheEU withrespect tovaccines, was
“to keeptheFranco-German”axis in balance.Accordingly, it split
its vaccine budget down the middle, ordering 300 million from the
German firm BioNTechandthe samefromtheFrenchcompany
Sanofi, while refusing to closeadealwith “Brexit-tainted”
AstraZeneca.WhenSanofi failedto deliver, the EU then rounded
on the UK and threatened to createavaccine border in Ireland. So
it was withtheeurocrisis.There too,the EUimperative was to
protectthe assetsofrichnorthern creditorsandquash anyideaof
theEuropean Central Bank printing moneyinsufficientquantities
to enable southern debtors to escape penury.By denying European
people thechancetoparticipate inthedecision-makingprocess,
EU officials continue toserve theinterestofEurope’sruling class.The key role in
politics is the
roll of the dice
Daniel Finkelstein
The Times
AFrenchwomanhasspent
threeyearstryingtoproveto
theauthoritiesthatsheisn’t
dead.JeannePouchain,58,
fromnearLyon,wasdeclared
deadbyacourtin2017,after
adisgruntledformer
employeefightingalong-
runninglegaldisputeclaimed
thatshemusthavepassed
away.Despitethelackofa
deathcertificate,Pouchain
wasscratchedfromofficial
records,invalidatingallher
administrativedocuments.
“Ihavenoidentitypapers,
nohealthinsurance,Icannot
provetothebanksthatIam
alive...I’mnothing,”she
lamented.“It’stimesomeone
said‘stop’.”ATexaslawyer accidentally
leftakitten filteron during
avirtualhearingon Zoom,
and couldn’tchangeit.Judge
Roy Ferguson ofTexas’s
394thjudicial districtasked
attorneyRodPonton why
he wasbeingaddressedbya
digitalfeline.“I don’t know
how toremove it,”replied
Ponton,whowanted togo
forward withthe hearing
evenso. “I’m herelive. Iam
notacat,” he insisted. The
judge later tweetedadvice
about howtochangeZoom
video options.Atoilet seat once belonging
to Adolf Hitler has sold for
$18,750 at auction in the US.
The wooden seat was looted
from Hitler’s Bavarian retreat,
the Berghof, byaUSsoldier,
Ragnvald C. Borch, at the end
of the Second World War.
Asked by another GI why he
was taking it, Borch is said to
have replied: “Where do you
think Hitler put his ass?”
Selling the trophy on behalf
of the soldier’s son, Bill
Panagopulos of Alexander
Auctions said: This was
“as close toa‘throne’ asthe
dic tator would ever get”.ITMUSTBETRUE...
IreaditinthetabloidsThe Government vaccine programmeisrightly being called“world-
beating”, saysDanielFinkelstein. But here’s the strange thing: not
longago, the acclaimedvacci neschief,KateBingham,was deemed
“a foolwith an outsizeinterestin PR”.Married toaToryminister
andwith no medical expertise,shewas seen asyetanother
crony hire who’dfare nobetter than Dido Harding,also acrony
appointment, didwith Testand Trace.What arenow being hailed
as Bingham’s keyvirt ues –use of personalcontacts, abackground
in commerce, “nimbleinformality”–are in fact just “crony”
vices by another name. What we forget, bothinslating the
Government’sperformanceand inlauding it,is the role of risk,
chanceand complexity.Today weblame the Government for
being toolax over lockdowns;hadvaccinesfailedtocometothe
rescue, we’d no doubt havecursedits restrictions as unsustainable.
Afew weeksback, European Commission president Ursulavon der
Leyen waslauded asamaturenegotiator; now she’s an awful one,
it seems.Yet she’s thesame woman.Itwas herluck that changed.