The Times Magazine 39JULY
01.07 No cause for celebration
“Beijing was preparing for the Chinese
Communist Party’s centenary celebrations,
with mass festivities in Tiananmen Square.
But with the detention of Uighurs, issues with
Hong Kong and the suppression of freedoms,
there wasn’t much cause for celebration. There
might have been for President Xi Jinping, the
party’s general secretary, but certainly not for
everyone else.”
07.07 Covid roulette
“Johnson had said, ‘If not now, then when?’
as he declared that virtually all Covid
restrictions in England would end on July 19
despite rapidly rising cases. For me it was a
gamble and had connotations of him once
again saying ‘let Covid rip’.”