The Times - UK (2022-02-16)

32 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times

Wo r l d

The families of five children and four

adults, some of those killed in the

2012 Sandy Hook school shooting,

have reached a $73 million settlement

with Remington, the bankrupt gun

manufacturer that made the assault

rifle used. It is the first time a gun-

maker has been held responsible in a

mass shooting.

Yesterday’s announcement by law-

yers for the families came after a

seven-year legal battle with Reming-

ton Arms, maker of the Bushmaster

semi-automatic rifle used to kill 20

children and six adults in Newtown,

Connecticut. The attack by Adam

Lanza, 20, who killed himself as

police arrived, was the deadliest pri-

mary school shooting in US history.

The children he killed were six and

seven years old.

The families of nine of the victims

filed a wrongful death lawsuit against

Remington and its insurers in 2014,

alleging that the gunmaker should be

held partially responsible for the

shooting because its marketing strat-

egy extolled the Bushmaster’s image

as a combat weapon.

A 2005 federal law protects many

gun manufacturers from wrongful

death lawsuits, but the plaintiffs were

able to use a Connecticut law that

prevents deceptive marketing prac-

tices to argue that Remington was

partially responsible. The company

appealed to the Supreme Court in

2019 but the justices allowed the case

to proceed. The families rejected a

settlement offer of $33 million last

year. The $73 million represented all

that Remington’s insurers could pay.

Lenny Pozner and Veronique De

La Rosa, whose son, Noah, was killed,

said the settlement could never

assuage their loss. “In that sense, this

outcome is neither redemptive nor

restorative,” they said. “One moment

we had this dazzling, energetic six-

year-old little boy, and the next all we

had left were echoes. However, the

resolution provides a measure of

accountability in an industry that has

thus far operated with impunity. For

this, we are grateful.”

Hugh Tomlinson

Gun firm pays Sandy Hook families $73m

For decades America’s boardrooms

have lived by the ruthless mantra that

“greed is good”. Future Gordon Gek-

kos are, however, being taught that

being happy is also good.

Harvard Business School has seen

interest in its “Leadership and Happi-

ness” class surge as students look

to add soft skills to complement the

more traditional hard-nosed talents.

Taught by the prominent social

scientist Arthur Brooks, the class has

been fully booked since its launch in

2020.

The seven-week course promises

to teach students to better under-

stand the root of their own happiness

and their emotional strengths and

weaknesses so as to “lead others in a

way that increases happiness”.

Brooks encourages his students

to distinguish between “real friends”

and “deal friends” and between

emotional and transactional

relationships.

“To be a successful leader you need

to understand happiness and manage

to it — yours and others. Unfortu-

nately, most leaders have to learn this

fact by hard experience,” a course

document says. “They are never

exposed to the expanding science of

happiness, which contains a wealth

of information on how to be happier

as a leader and make others happier

as well.”

Harvard says that the focus on hap-

piness has taken on new importance

since the pandemic, as workers leave

jobs at record rates, reappraise their

goals and demand better pay and

work-life balance.

The course suggests that attending

to four key areas — family, friends,

meaningful work and faith or life phi-

losophy — and evaluating the value

placed on each is essential to being a

better boss and gaining a competitive

advantage by building a happier

workplace. “Think carefully about

each of the four parts of your port-

folio,” a slide that was presented on

the first day of class this term said. “In

which are you over-indexing?”

Brooks’s questions have resonated

with students. The class began with

72 students, but enrolment has now

more than doubled and it is still over-

subscribed.

Ashley McCray, an engineer and

consultant in the class, said that the

course had proved invaluable as she

reappraised her ambitions following

early career success. She was named

on a list of top women in business in

Minneapolis in 2019.

“This was little, young ambitious

Ashley’s dream, and I achieved it and

I felt nothing,” she told The Wall Street

Journal.

McCray now serves as “VP [vice-

president] of Happiness” for the

Harvard Business School student

association, sharing cheery posts

from around campus on social media

and helping her classmates to unwind

with massages and sessions with

therapy dogs.

United States

Hugh Tomlinson Washington

Harvard’s happiness classes

teach leadership with a smile

T

he Oscars will

feature an all-

female line-up

of hosts as the

ceremony

reverts to a more

traditional format after

three years without a

presenter (Keiran

Southern writes).

The actresses Amy

Schumer, Regina Hall

and Wanda Sykes will

steer Hollywood’s

biggest night when it

returns to the Dolby

Theatre in Los Angeles

with an audience next

month, Variety said.

The film-maker Will

Packer is producer of

the 94th Academy

Awards on March 27 and

is said to have explored

various formats,

including switching

hosts every hour.

Jon Hamm, the actor

who starred as Don

Draper in Mad Men, was

said to be in the running

to host but dropped out

over the weekend.

Previous hosts Chris

Rock and Steve Martin

were also considered,

according to reports.

Variety said the hiring

of Schumer, Hall and

Sykes would officially be

announced on Good

Morning America today.

Schumer, 40, is a

stand-up comedian

whose films include

Trainwreck and I Feel

Pretty. Hall, 51, first

found fame after

appearing in the horror

parody franchise Scary

Movie and Sykes, 57, has

film credits including

Monster-in-Law and My

Super Ex-Girlfriend.

The actor and

comedian Kevin Hart

was to present the

ceremony in 2019

but dropped out

after tweets emerged

that were considered

homophobic.

Since then the

Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and

Sciences has relied on

multiple celebrity

presenters.

Hosting the Oscars

was once seen as a

plum job in Hollywood

but is now viewed as a

thankless task.

Last year’s ceremony

attracted a record low

TV audience.

In an attempt to

reinvigorate the show

viewers will be able to

vote on their favourite

film of the year, with the

winner announced

during the TV

broadcast.

It raises the prospect

of blockbusters such as

Spider-Man: No Way

Home being recognised

after failing to achieve a

best picture nomination.

All-female hosts take

Oscars into a new era

From left: Amy Schumer,

Regina Hall and Wanda

Sykes will host the Oscars

when they return in front

of an audience next month

We

Arthur Brooks

teaches Harvard

students how to

assess happiness