Instant Opinion: ‘Greta Thunberg’s voyage is admirable but not practical’

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Kathryn Phelan in The Irish Times

on the fine line between celebrity activist and member of the elite

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Greta Thunberg’s voyage is admirable but not practical

“The idea here is not to drag the young activist down into the carbon-emitting muck with us. There’s something to be said for setting an unshakable example and hoping people will find a way to meet you there. But Thunberg’s desire to attend the summits granted her a moment of striking relatability: even people who would never dream of using aluminium foil or a plastic toothbrush or a takeaway coffee cup still want to cross an ocean sometimes. She had an opportunity to demonstrate a practical, imitable solution, but instead, she relied on her celebrity to make a point. The extreme and elusive approach seems a mismatch for the down-to-earth girl we’ve come to know, and it risks alienating her from us.”

2. Joshua Murray-Nevill in The New Statesman

on the availability of medication in a post-Brexit UK

As a heart transplant patient, I fear no-deal Brexit is truly “do or die”

“Failure to take my medication leads to an increase in white blood cells. Eventually, enough would band together to cause sufficient damage to the heart. That doesn’t sound good because it isn’t. The eventual symptoms of acute rejection are multiple heart attacks and death. I receive my medication in bi-monthly batches. Having just taken delivery of one, that leaves me with one more prior to 31 October, the date we’re due to leave the European Union. After that? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine.”

3. Leonid Bershidsky in The Moscow Times

on the suppression of activism in Russia

Stop comparing the Moscow and Paris protests

“The basic difference between what happens to protesters in Russia and in France isn’t so much about democracy as about freedom. In Moscow, the rallies’ organizers were careful to say in their social media posts that they weren’t calling on anyone to attend — otherwise they would be leaving themselves open to criminal prosecution. The protesters didn’t burn cars or break windows because they knew the system would ruin their lives by throwing them behind bars for years. Even now, some of the demonstrators are being tried on the flimsiest of evidence for allegedly resisting police. On the other hand, the riot police, for all their eager truncheon work, have inflicted few serious injuries, and no one has died. Had there been more bloodshed, Putin would have had much more to fear from the protesters.”

4. Imad K Harb in Al Jazeera

on Abu Dhabi’s controversial decision to withdraw from Yemen

The looming partition of Yemen

“As the UAE tries to slip out of a war it encouraged Saudi Arabia to start, the Saudis may now be wondering: with friends like these, who needs enemies? If not reversed, the takeover of Aden by southern secessionists may well be the final nail in the coffin of Yemen's unity and territorial integrity. While Saudi Arabia has announced that it will host reconciliation meetings between Hadi and his adversaries, there is no guarantee that they will be successful. Having allowed Abu Dhabi to do what it wanted in Aden, Riyadh will find it difficult to oppose the further territorial expansion of the STC.”

5. Daisy Dunn in The Daily Telegraph

on the perils of minimalist museums

Museums shouldn't look like they were curated by Marie Kondo

“Less most certainly isn’t more. Just look at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Founded in the late 19th century, it holds half a million objects from all over the world, many jammed together in curious combinations. It’s all very dark and Victorian. Perfect for getting lost in. One moment you may find yourself next to an Inuit doll. Turn around and you’ll gasp to see the famous shrunken heads. The excitement comes from never knowing what’s around the next corner. The 18th-century architect and collector, Sir John Soane, revelled in a similar sense of artful chaos in his house-museum. He certainly didn’t suffer from that curiously modern curatorial obsession with “letting objects breathe”. Who cares if you don’t take in every work of art in a single visit? That’s why you go back.”