I do love this quote from Machiavelli in The Prince:
"Let no-one stir things up in a city, believing he can stop them as he pleases, or that he is in charge of what happens next."
Insights from the past provide many lessons today, especially for populists.
Many authorities are now reevaluating their statues to luminaries; however, I feel much of this is being driven not from a genuine belief that they're doing the right thing, but to prevent public disorder. I could be wrong - but that's a rarity....
What is the purpose of a statue? Many, such as statues commemorating WWI or WWII, are not of historic individuals, but anonymous representations of people who fought, so an amalgam to commemorate an event. Others honour individuals, but such people are invariably permanently represented in the historic records and erecting a statue is not really necessary - especially several hundred years after they died. I think I'm correct in believing there's not a single statue of Hitler remaining in Germany, but he's permanently writ large in the history books and even remains an icon for a few. Simon Schama, in Radio 4 yesterday morning, made the entirely valid point that Roman Emperors regularly melted down statues of the predecessors and even attempted to erase them from history, yet they remain in the history books.
Many authorities are now reevaluating their statues to luminaries; however, I feel much of this is being driven not from a genuine belief that they're doing the right thing, but to prevent public disorder. I could be wrong - but that's a rarity....
What is the purpose of a statue? Many, such as statues commemorating WWI or WWII, are not of historic individuals, but anonymous representations of people who fought, so an amalgam to commemorate an event. Others honour individuals, but such people are invariably permanently represented in the historic records and erecting a statue is not really necessary - especially several hundred years after they died. I think I'm correct in believing there's not a single statue of Hitler remaining in Germany, but he's permanently writ large in the history books and even remains an icon for a few. Simon Schama, in Radio 4 yesterday morning, made the entirely valid point that Roman Emperors regularly melted down statues of the predecessors and even attempted to erase them from history, yet they remain in the history books.
Moving on to schools. Call me stupid but, despite children being at a lower risk of contracting C-19, they nevertheless come into contact with adults, in the shape of teachers, parents, dinner ladies, etc. It's not a great leap of credulity to understand that they can still act as vectors by having the virus on their hands when going home. They're not renowned for washing their hands and are dirty little buggers. Only dogs are worse at spreading disease, and even that's debatable.
The fact kids are less affected gives credence to the theory that C-19 unmasks our intolerance to air pollution, which makes the symptoms much worse. Young people, while exposed to pollution, haven't had as long an exposure as the elderly although, by the time they die, the dosage will be much higher, unless something is done about it now.
Returning to schools opening and classes being limited to 15; I came from a grammar school with classes of 30 and was put in a public school with classes of 15. The improvement in my education was phenomenal, and it was nothing to do with more qualified teachers - they weren't more qualified, they were merely able to devote more attention to the individual pupils. There is universal agreement among educators that the single, most critical factor affecting educational outcomes is class size. Perhaps we should be planning for a permanent shift to classes of 15. Not only would it improve the overall level of education, but it would mitigate any future pandemic and make the education system more resilient, as well as the economy by virtue of releasing parents from childcare duty in order to return to work earlier.
Some solutions just stare people in the face - the only drawback is money. That's another word for tax. It's also an argument for big government and higher taxes, which is contrary to right-wing ideology in which the devil takes the hindmost, and almost everyone except the well off.
The fact kids are less affected gives credence to the theory that C-19 unmasks our intolerance to air pollution, which makes the symptoms much worse. Young people, while exposed to pollution, haven't had as long an exposure as the elderly although, by the time they die, the dosage will be much higher, unless something is done about it now.
Returning to schools opening and classes being limited to 15; I came from a grammar school with classes of 30 and was put in a public school with classes of 15. The improvement in my education was phenomenal, and it was nothing to do with more qualified teachers - they weren't more qualified, they were merely able to devote more attention to the individual pupils. There is universal agreement among educators that the single, most critical factor affecting educational outcomes is class size. Perhaps we should be planning for a permanent shift to classes of 15. Not only would it improve the overall level of education, but it would mitigate any future pandemic and make the education system more resilient, as well as the economy by virtue of releasing parents from childcare duty in order to return to work earlier.
Some solutions just stare people in the face - the only drawback is money. That's another word for tax. It's also an argument for big government and higher taxes, which is contrary to right-wing ideology in which the devil takes the hindmost, and almost everyone except the well off.
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