Category Archives: Viva!

New coronavirus spreads more like flu than SARS: Chinese study

uh oh Scientists in China who studied nose and throat swabs from 18 patients infected with the new coronavirus say it behaves much more like influenza than other closely related viruses, suggesting it may spread even more easily than previously believed.

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Eugenics refuses to die – and now Andrew Sabisky has put it back in the headlines | Angela Saini

Racism, not science

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Today’s right still turns to 19th-century pseudoscientific ideas of ‘human breeding’ to avoid responsibility for social problems

If there’s one thing policymakers love, it’s simple technical ideas that can solve complex problems at a stroke. They’re always on the lookout for what the American nuclear physicist, Alvin Weinberg, in 1965 termed the “technological fix”, be it a high-speed rail network to solve regional inequality, or nuclear power as an answer to the climate crisis.

This week, one old and discredited technological fix has reared its head: eugenics, the pseudoscientific belief that humans can be bred to “perfection” in the same way we breed cattle or domestic pets for particular traits. Developed by Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, in the 19th century, it was promoted by politicians and intellectuals in Britain, before becoming the justification for millions of involuntary sterilisations globally, mainly of the poor and disabled, and the Nazis’ devastating programme of “racial hygiene” that culminated in the Holocaust.

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Virus-hit cruise liner passengers start disembarking in Japan after controversial quarantine

Controversy created by press and lawyers. Would you rather that they all be free to spread the disease and help create a global pandemic? 2.3% of global population and mostly people over 50 – you ready for that. Passengers on the virus-hit cruise ship moored near Tokyo began disembarking on Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK said, after a controversial two-week quarantine that saw more than 500 people infected with the new coronavirus originating in China.

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UK to close door to non-English speakers and unskilled workers

Racism runs deep in England

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Government plans to take ‘full control’ of borders a disaster for economy and jobs, say industry leaders and Labour

Britain is to close its borders to unskilled workers and those who can’t speak English as part of a fundamental overhaul of immigration laws that will end the era of cheap EU labour in factories, warehouses, hotels and restaurants.

Unveiling its Australian-style points system on Wednesday, the government will say it is grasping a unique opportunity to take “full control” of British borders “for the first time in decades” and eliminate the “distortion” caused by EU freedom of movement.

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Dave attacks Boris Johnson in Brit awards performance: ‘Our prime minister’s a real racist’

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South London rapper, who won album of the year for Psychodrama, also called for support for the Windrush generation and castigated the media over their coverage of Meghan Markle

South London rapper Dave has accused Boris Johnson of being a racist on stage at the 2020 Brit awards.

Performing Black, a freestyle track that charts the difficulties of black Britons, he added a newly written final verse that began: “It is racist, whether or not it feels racist, the truth is our prime minister’s a real racist / They say – ‘you should be grateful, we’re the least racist’ / I say the least racist is still racist.”

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