To Lockdown or not to Lockdown?

Someone pointed out this very interesting debate over lockdowns the other day. One author argues that the lockdowns have caused far more harm than good and will go down as one of the great policy mistakes in history; the other counters that they have in fact saved numerous lives and that things would be far worse without them.

Both writers are sensible and make good points. It's not short, but it is interesting reading. I incline toward the lockdowns-have-been-necessary side of the debate myself, because I am persuaded that coronavirus is indeed considerably more deadly than an ordinary flu. But it is a good argument, and especially worth considering now that we are facing questions about how and how quickly to open things back up again. In general, it nicely illustrates one of the central problems of public policy, how to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty. (The same problem, incidentally, explains why the pandemic is and must be a political issue, not simply one that can be resolved by experts.)

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E-mail Wit on a Lazy Sunday Afternoon

It seems as though practically every business where I've ever bought anything in the past decade sends me e-mails about their products, specials, deal-of-the-week, etc. Normally I delete them immediately, without a second glance. But one this afternoon made me hesitate. I received a "Walgreens Weekly Ad" e-mail. Its subject line read as follows: "We can't stop lowering prices." So instead of hitting "delete," I sent a quick reply: "In that case, I think I'll wait and shop next week." I have no idea whether or not that reply will go to a real e-mail address and be read by an actual human being. But I hope so.

Non capisco!

About once a week I get an e-mail from something called the Italian Cultural Institute in New York. I don't know why. I know nothing about them and have no idea how I got on their mailing list. But I generally take a quick look at the e-mail, because every now and then I see something interesting. The other day I got one of these and saw what appeared to be a potentially interesting lecture today. It was by a professor named Stefano Jossa, currently at Royal Holloway, the University of London. He was going to be speaking on his new book, in Italian, but the title of which in English would be The Most Beautiful in the World: Why Love the Italian Language . It sounded intriguing, it was free, all you had to do was register and get a Zoom link. So I did. It turned out that the lecture was actually being sponsored not by the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, but rather by the one in Montreal. But who cares, right? As long a...

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Plague Time

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