Covid deaths are on the rise again, so what happens? Mask-wearing in hospitals is scrapped
George Monbiot in The Guardian
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Can we tone down the Halloween decorations? My kids are terrified
Allegra Chapman on the i news site
"I love Halloween," says Allegra Chapman on the i news site, but "I'm sure the Halloween displays in shops and public spaces have become distinctly more horrific." "Pumpkins, paper ghosts and…cardboard bats" have been replaced by "freakishly disturbing monsters". Businesses "have a responsibility to ensure" public spaces are "safe and comfortable for everyone". Turn your home into "a portal to a brutal hell dimension if you want, but let's keep the fruit and veg aisle free of murderous ghouls."
Britain is not a technocracy
Travis Aaroe in The Spectator
Technocracy today is considered "something post-ideological, prudent, scientific, expert-driven, and without illusion", writes Travis Aaroe in The Spectator. Some politicians have been labelled technocrats merely "because they come across as quiet and understated". The "British establishment is often thought of as a technocratic one", when in fact "few societies are less committed to rational optimisation, hard realism, or bloodless economism." In 2023, Britain is a "loose confederation of turbulent and mutinous quangos: decentralised, romantic, sentimental".
A few words about bellies
Amelia Tait in The New York Times
"Our society hates and fears bellies," says Amelia Tait in The New York Times. There have been "great strides in the body positivity movement", yet "round tummies" remain "taboo". It's as though "we are collectively suffering from belly dysmorphia; we are blind to…what most abdomens actually look like", says Tait. If society were to "accept the belly, not necessarily as something beautiful but merely as something that is", it would "end…the wars raging in so many women's minds".
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How Putin misunderstood his past victoriesIn Depth Though Vladimir Putin has led Russia to a number of grisly military triumphs, they may have misled him when planning the invasion of Ukraine
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RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
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New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
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RFK Jr.: A new plan for sabotaging vaccinesFeature The Health Secretary announced changes to vaccine testing and asks Americans to 'do your own research'
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Five years on: How Covid changed everythingFeature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
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Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
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FDA OKs new Covid vaccine, available soonSpeed read The CDC recommends the new booster to combat the widely-circulating KP.2 strain
