newyorker--2020-03-18--The Coronavirus and the Kursk Submarine Disaster

When we face catastrophe , our minds look for points of comparison .
Recently , people have talked and written about world wars , the Spanish flu , the plague , and the Great Depression .
I have written about terror .
Each of these parallels sheds some light on our current predicament .
Here is one more : often , these days , I think of a submarine .
In August , 2000 , the Kursk , a giant nuclear submarine , went out to sea off the coast of Murmansk with an undertrained crew and a load of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
One or two of those torpedoes appear to have exploded onboard , killing most of the men on the submarine .
The tremors set off by the explosion were picked up by a Norwegian seismic station , but the Russian Navy didn ’ t acknowledge the accident for nine hours , and President Vladimir Putin wasn ’ t notified for another nine hours after that .
He was on vacation in Sochi , on the Black Sea , and he remained on vacation .
All this time , twenty-three men inside what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bottom of the sea .
The Russian Navy sent rescue crews , but they failed to dock to the submarine .
It seemed that they lacked the necessary skills , because , ten days later , when a Norwegian crew were finally allowed to attempt a rescue , they docked on their first try .
By that time , the men inside had been dead a week .
Trapped in their underwater capsule , those twenty-three seamen had survived for more than two days .
As long as they lived , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In August , 2000 , Russia had thriving independent television and print media that were reporting on the tragedy , but the vacationing President , at first , said nothing .
Then he mumbled something incoherent about the value of the equipment aboard the Kursk .
On the seventh day after the explosion , Putin ’ s aides finally persuaded him to return to Moscow .
He told television reporters , “ I did the right thing , because the arrival of nonspecialists from any field , the presence of high-placed officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help and more often would hamper work .
Everyone should keep to his place.
” Then he travelled to the Arctic and , under the cover of night , met with the families of the dead sailors , told them that the sailors might still be alive , and also railed against the forces that had destroyed the Russian military .
“ I never thought that things were in this kind of condition , ” he said .
There is no direct parallel between the coronavirus pandemic and the Kursk submarine , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump and Putin , there is a similarity of spirit .
Both Presidents stayed silent when they should have been speaking .
( Putin vacationed ; Trump golfed . )
Both offered false hope and accepted no responsibility .
Both blamed other countries ( Russia briefly embraced the theory that an American submarine had collided with the Kursk ) , and both blamed their predecessors for destroying a system that should have saved people .
But there is more .
The most striking aspect of Putin ’ s failure to accept responsibility for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bureaucratese .
It was a preview of the twenty years since ( and possibly the next twenty ) .
Putin ’ s use of bureaucratic language is a means of misleading the public and deflecting responsibility , but it also offers an insight into his understanding of government .
He saw himself as a figurehead who might get in the way of people doing their work , and seemed unaware that his job was to lead the effort .
Perhaps as a result , the Russian Navy and government were overcautious , rejected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even respond to the S.O.S .
signals from the submarine .
I don ’ t usually think of Trump as a bureaucrat .
In many ways , he seems the opposite of one—he favors snap decisions , and sweeping ones , and he abhors regulation .
But he and Putin share a toxic combination of imperiousness and laziness , a kind of high-handed lassitude .
They like to be in charge , but they can ’ t be bothered to take charge .
They disdain competence but somehow assume that other people ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that needs fixing .
As his relentless campaign against government has shown , Trump sees the American system of government as a giant bureaucracy .
The government , under Trump , has been partly dismantled , partly corrupted , and partly allowed to churn along , in part because he didn ’ t feel like paying attention .
But , in a crisis , when churning along will not do , the government can not function without a leader ; or at least its proper functioning is severely delayed , as it struggles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader—who in other respects is something of a control freak and in all respects is terrifying—isn ’ t going to lead .
My colleague Robert P. Baird has traced why testing for the coronavirus has not been widely available in the United States , laying out a succession of contradictory and confusing events .
The test was delayed not only by human error but by rules that had unintended consequences ; by a reluctance to make decisions ; and , most of all , it seems , by a system ’ s inability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this age of anti-bureaucratic government , it was a story of bureaucratic failings .
This is not actually surprising : Hannah Arendt called bureaucracy “ the rule of Nobody.
” Trump , who rejects all responsibility , is this Nobody now .
And we are all in a submarine at the bottom of the sea , banging out an S.O.S .
signal .
• How to practice social distancing , from responding to a sick housemate to the pros and cons of ordering food .
• How people cope and create new customs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means to contain and mitigate the coronavirus outbreak .
• How much of the world is likely to be quarantined ?
• Donald Trump in the time of coronavirus .
• The coronavirus is likely to spread for more than a year before a vaccine could be widely available .
• We are all irrational panic shoppers .
• The strange terror of watching the coronavirus take Rome .

When we face catastrophe, our minds look for points of comparison. Recently, people have talked and written about world wars, the Spanish flu, the plague, and the Great Depression. I have written about terror. Each of these parallels sheds some light on our current predicament. Here is one more: often, these days, I think of a submarine.
In August, 2000, the Kursk, a giant nuclear submarine, went out to sea off the coast of Murmansk with an undertrained crew and a load of torpedoes that were past their expiration date. One or two of those torpedoes appear to have exploded onboard, killing most of the men on the submarine. The tremors set off by the explosion were picked up by a Norwegian seismic station, but the Russian Navy didn’t acknowledge the accident for nine hours, and President Vladimir Putin wasn’t notified for another nine hours after that. He was on vacation in Sochi, on the Black Sea, and he remained on vacation. All this time, twenty-three men inside what remained of the Kursk awaited rescue at the bottom of the sea.
The Russian Navy sent rescue crews, but they failed to dock to the submarine. It seemed that they lacked the necessary skills, because, ten days later, when a Norwegian crew were finally allowed to attempt a rescue, they docked on their first try. By that time, the men inside had been dead a week.
Trapped in their underwater capsule, those twenty-three seamen had survived for more than two days. As long as they lived, they kept beating out an S.O.S. signal. In August, 2000, Russia had thriving independent television and print media that were reporting on the tragedy, but the vacationing President, at first, said nothing. Then he mumbled something incoherent about the value of the equipment aboard the Kursk. On the seventh day after the explosion, Putin’s aides finally persuaded him to return to Moscow. He told television reporters, “I did the right thing, because the arrival of nonspecialists from any field, the presence of high-placed officials in the disaster area, would not help and more often would hamper work. Everyone should keep to his place.” Then he travelled to the Arctic and, under the cover of night, met with the families of the dead sailors, told them that the sailors might still be alive, and also railed against the forces that had destroyed the Russian military. “I never thought that things were in this kind of condition,” he said.
There is no direct parallel between the coronavirus pandemic and the Kursk submarine, but, as sometimes happens with President Donald Trump and Putin, there is a similarity of spirit. Both Presidents stayed silent when they should have been speaking. (Putin vacationed; Trump golfed.) Both offered false hope and accepted no responsibility. Both blamed other countries (Russia briefly embraced the theory that an American submarine had collided with the Kursk), and both blamed their predecessors for destroying a system that should have saved people.
But there is more. The most striking aspect of Putin’s failure to accept responsibility for the Kursk disaster was his retreat into bureaucratese. It was a preview of the twenty years since (and possibly the next twenty). Putin’s use of bureaucratic language is a means of misleading the public and deflecting responsibility, but it also offers an insight into his understanding of government. He saw himself as a figurehead who might get in the way of people doing their work, and seemed unaware that his job was to lead the effort. Perhaps as a result, the Russian Navy and government were overcautious, rejected foreign help, and didn’t even respond to the S.O.S. signals from the submarine.
I don’t usually think of Trump as a bureaucrat. In many ways, he seems the opposite of one—he favors snap decisions, and sweeping ones, and he abhors regulation. But he and Putin share a toxic combination of imperiousness and laziness, a kind of high-handed lassitude. They like to be in charge, but they can’t be bothered to take charge. They disdain competence but somehow assume that other people’s competence will fix whatever it is that needs fixing. As his relentless campaign against government has shown, Trump sees the American system of government as a giant bureaucracy. The government, under Trump, has been partly dismantled, partly corrupted, and partly allowed to churn along, in part because he didn’t feel like paying attention. But, in a crisis, when churning along will not do, the government cannot function without a leader; or at least its proper functioning is severely delayed, as it struggles to adapt to the idea that the leader—who in other respects is something of a control freak and in all respects is terrifying—isn’t going to lead.
My colleague Robert P. Baird has traced why testing for the coronavirus has not been widely available in the United States, laying out a succession of contradictory and confusing events. The test was delayed not only by human error but by rules that had unintended consequences; by a reluctance to make decisions; and, most of all, it seems, by a system’s inability to recognize its own failings. In this age of anti-bureaucratic government, it was a story of bureaucratic failings. This is not actually surprising: Hannah Arendt called bureaucracy “the rule of Nobody.” Trump, who rejects all responsibility, is this Nobody now. And we are all in a submarine at the bottom of the sea, banging out an S.O.S. signal.
A Guide to the Coronavirus


newyorker--2020-03-18--Will the Coronavirus Change the Way China’s Millennials See Their Country?

On January 21st , Wu Meifen was at her office in the small city of Zhanjiang , in southern China , where she works as a publicist .
It was a few days before the New Year festivities were to begin , and she was going to her parents ’ home that evening , but had stopped to check her phone .
She began reading reports that a novel coronavirus , which Chinese officials had initially downplayed , was turning into an epidemic so real that it threatened to upend the entire country .
Although Wuhan , the epicenter of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ miles from Zhanjiang , when Wu drove to her parents ’ home , the streets were quiet , and many shops had shuttered .
A week later , when I contacted Wu , who is thirty years old , through a mutual friend in China , she was still consumed by stories posted by victims of the coronavirus , which was soon named COVID-19 .
She had noticed that , as the virus sealed people off—even members of her extended family stopped visiting one another—the relative anonymity of the Internet and the urgency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people from their usual reticence .
In a manner that Wu had never before witnessed , they were divulging intimate details of their devastated lives , airing grievances , pleading for help .
“ We Chinese are not in the habit of exposing our vulnerability , ” she said .
“ It ’ s a measure of how desperate things had become.
” Most people were looking for medical resources .
Testing kits were in short supply , and even those who were gravely ill had trouble finding a hospital bed .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me .
“ Like I was watching a person drown , but all I could do was stupidly ‘ like ’ their post.
” She had majored in journalism in college and has a degree in documentary filmmaking ; “ human-interest stories appeal to me , ” she said , “ because they reveal so much about how we live day to day.
” So , with a half-dozen friends , Wu opened a public channel on WeChat , the Chinese social-media and messaging platform , to document the effects of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Anyone can follow public accounts on WeChat , and they have become a popular method of sharing information , although it is known that even private channels are monitored by the state . )
She found subjects on Weibo , the Chinese equivalent of Twitter , and then messaged them to request interviews over the phone .
A few of the friends behind the channel , including Wu , did the reporting , and others edited the stories they wrote .
Every few days , they would put up a new piece @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wanted to help but couldn ’ t figure out how to be useful under lockdown , ” Wu told me .
Chinese millennials , who have come of age in the increasingly prosperous but increasingly repressive nation led by Xi Jinping , have not been known for boldness or public displays of social responsibility .
But the current malaise has led Wu and many of her peers to reconsider both the structure of their society and their roles , as individuals , in it .
One of the first people Wu spoke with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wen , who was working in Beijing when the coronavirus hit his home town .
His sixty-one-year-old father became sick , but , by the time Weng learned that , Wuhan was already on lockdown .
His father was quarantined , and Weng ’ s eighty-three-year-old paternal grandmother , who had been living with his father , was left to fend for herself .
A few days later , she developed a fever and a cough .
She had no means of getting herself to the nearest hospital , and city resources were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Panicked , Weng wrote to a local official , via WeChat , but the official subsequently blocked him .
“ My grandmother started working at a state factory at the age of twelve , ” Weng told Wu .
“ She has never been afraid of death .
But the government has a duty to care for her .
It ’ s a matter of public health .
The country should be held responsible.
” In the course of several weeks , Wu interviewed more than thirty people in Wuhan .
One was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortly after his parents were infected ; all three were eventually hospitalized , but at least they were getting medical attention .
Others found the ordeal of seeking treatment so debilitating that they seemed on the verge of emotional collapse .
“ That ’ s how I learned that people in heartbreaking calamity do not want to hear the words ‘ Fight on , ’ ” she said .
“ They don ’ t have the energy to do battle .
It ’ s not a war .
They can only endure.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the will to tell one ’ s story gives you a purpose.
” One day , she spent three hours teaching Weng ’ s father , who was recovering from the virus , how to shoot and save short videos about his daily life in the hospital .
She knew the effort was worth it when she heard the excitement in his voice over the phone , after he sent her his first video .
There ’ s a difference between social crises , such as the coronavirus , and political problems , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a V.P.N .
to get around China ’ s digital firewall , which bars users from accessing sites such as the Times , the BBC , Facebook , and Twitter .
Still , she thinks that , under Xi , China is getting better .
She didn ’ t take too much interest in governance , anyway , partly because the subject tends to invite trouble .
( Everyone knows better than to discuss politics on WeChat . )
But she does see a general erosion of trust .
In early February , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt that ailing members of her family had been so neglected by the health-care system that she vowed to immigrate to another country .
Wu could hear in her voice the depth of her frustration and pain .
“ I tried to ask what , exactly , enraged her , ” Wu told me .
“ All I wanted to do was help her to talk through it.
” The young woman said that she would think about it .
But , a few days later , when Wu called again , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ She was fearful that I was trying to entrap her into bad-mouthing the government , ” Wu said .
Xi ’ s regime has also eroded trust in the institutions of civil society .
The largest charity in China is the Red Cross .
The organization , which has no affiliation with the International Committee of the Red Cross , is predominantly state-funded and controlled by the government .
Even before the coronavirus outbreak , it had a reputation for corruption and incompetence—in China , it ’ s often referred to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words for “ cross ” and “ lice ” are homonyms . )
Then , as health-care workers across Hubei Province , where Wuhan is situated , made online pleas for supplies and protective gear , it was discovered that supplies paid for by private donations were languishing , unsorted , in Red Cross warehouses .
Yet raising money privately is difficult , which is frustrating for many young professionals .
To start , it requires filing an application with the state civil-affairs department , in order to obtain the proper credentials—a laborious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis .
I recently communicated on the encrypted app Signal with a thirty-year-old documentary filmmaker in the southern city of Xiamen .
“ I don ’ t know anyone in Wuhan , and have never been there , ” she said .
“ But how can I do nothing ?
” Working with a group of four other people her age across China , she began collecting donations to buy and ship supplies—face masks , biohazard suits , safety goggles , sterile gloves , and even rice—to Wuhan .
They raised half a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We coördinated and worked out logistics exclusively on messaging apps , ” she told me .
She compared the process to smuggling drugs , because it was shadowy , demanded anonymity , and required a network of covert handlers at every stage .

On January 21st, Wu Meifen was at her office in the small city of Zhanjiang, in southern China, where she works as a publicist. It was a few days before the New Year festivities were to begin, and she was going to her parents’ home that evening, but had stopped to check her phone. She began reading reports that a novel coronavirus, which Chinese officials had initially downplayed, was turning into an epidemic so real that it threatened to upend the entire country. Although Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, is almost nine hundred miles from Zhanjiang, when Wu drove to her parents’ home, the streets were quiet, and many shops had shuttered.
A week later, when I contacted Wu, who is thirty years old, through a mutual friend in China, she was still consumed by stories posted by victims of the coronavirus, which was soon named COVID-19. She had noticed that, as the virus sealed people off—even members of her extended family stopped visiting one another—the relative anonymity of the Internet and the urgency of the crisis seemed to be freeing people from their usual reticence. In a manner that Wu had never before witnessed, they were divulging intimate details of their devastated lives, airing grievances, pleading for help. “We Chinese are not in the habit of exposing our vulnerability,” she said. “It’s a measure of how desperate things had become.”
Most people were looking for medical resources. Testing kits were in short supply, and even those who were gravely ill had trouble finding a hospital bed. “I felt painfully useless,” Wu told me. “Like I was watching a person drown, but all I could do was stupidly ‘like’ their post.” She had majored in journalism in college and has a degree in documentary filmmaking; “human-interest stories appeal to me,” she said, “because they reveal so much about how we live day to day.” So, with a half-dozen friends, Wu opened a public channel on WeChat, the Chinese social-media and messaging platform, to document the effects of the coronavirus on both individuals and society. (Anyone can follow public accounts on WeChat, and they have become a popular method of sharing information, although it is known that even private channels are monitored by the state.) She found subjects on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and then messaged them to request interviews over the phone. A few of the friends behind the channel, including Wu, did the reporting, and others edited the stories they wrote. Every few days, they would put up a new piece. “So many friends my age wanted to help but couldn’t figure out how to be useful under lockdown,” Wu told me. Chinese millennials, who have come of age in the increasingly prosperous but increasingly repressive nation led by Xi Jinping, have not been known for boldness or public displays of social responsibility. But the current malaise has led Wu and many of her peers to reconsider both the structure of their society and their roles, as individuals, in it.
One of the first people Wu spoke with was a thirty-something Wuhan native named Weng Wen, who was working in Beijing when the coronavirus hit his home town. His sixty-one-year-old father became sick, but, by the time Weng learned that, Wuhan was already on lockdown. His father was quarantined, and Weng’s eighty-three-year-old paternal grandmother, who had been living with his father, was left to fend for herself. A few days later, she developed a fever and a cough. She had no means of getting herself to the nearest hospital, and city resources were too strained to send an ambulance. Panicked, Weng wrote to a local official, via WeChat, but the official subsequently blocked him. “My grandmother started working at a state factory at the age of twelve,” Weng told Wu. “She has never been afraid of death. But the government has a duty to care for her. It’s a matter of public health. The country should be held responsible.”
In the course of several weeks, Wu interviewed more than thirty people in Wuhan. One was a thirty-year-old wedding photographer who became sick shortly after his parents were infected; all three were eventually hospitalized, but at least they were getting medical attention. Others found the ordeal of seeking treatment so debilitating that they seemed on the verge of emotional collapse. “That’s how I learned that people in heartbreaking calamity do not want to hear the words ‘Fight on,’ ” she said. “They don’t have the energy to do battle. It’s not a war. They can only endure.” But, she added, “having the will to tell one’s story gives you a purpose.” One day, she spent three hours teaching Weng’s father, who was recovering from the virus, how to shoot and save short videos about his daily life in the hospital. She knew the effort was worth it when she heard the excitement in his voice over the phone, after he sent her his first video.
There’s a difference between social crises, such as the coronavirus, and political problems, she told me carefully. She uses a V.P.N. to get around China’s digital firewall, which bars users from accessing sites such as the Times, the BBC, Facebook, and Twitter. Still, she thinks that, under Xi, China is getting better. She didn’t take too much interest in governance, anyway, partly because the subject tends to invite trouble. (Everyone knows better than to discuss politics on WeChat.) But she does see a general erosion of trust. In early February, she chatted with a nineteen-year-old woman who felt that ailing members of her family had been so neglected by the health-care system that she vowed to immigrate to another country. Wu could hear in her voice the depth of her frustration and pain. “I tried to ask what, exactly, enraged her,” Wu told me. “All I wanted to do was help her to talk through it.” The young woman said that she would think about it. But, a few days later, when Wu called again, the young woman’s tone was wary. “She was fearful that I was trying to entrap her into bad-mouthing the government,” Wu said.
Xi’s regime has also eroded trust in the institutions of civil society. The largest charity in China is the Red Cross. The organization, which has no affiliation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, is predominantly state-funded and controlled by the government. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, it had a reputation for corruption and incompetence—in China, it’s often referred to as the Red Lice. (The words for “cross” and “lice” are homonyms.) Then, as health-care workers across Hubei Province, where Wuhan is situated, made online pleas for supplies and protective gear, it was discovered that supplies paid for by private donations were languishing, unsorted, in Red Cross warehouses. Yet raising money privately is difficult, which is frustrating for many young professionals. To start, it requires filing an application with the state civil-affairs department, in order to obtain the proper credentials—a laborious process that is impractical in a fast-moving crisis.


newyorker--2020-03-19--In Israel, an Unprecedented Political Crisis Is Compounded by the Coronavirus—and Netanyahu Is Benef

In Israel, an Unprecedented Political Crisis Is Compounded by the Coronavirus—and Netanyahu Is Benefitting

In Israel , as in other countries roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic , professionals in the health and finance ministries have been leading the implementation of extraordinary measures : closing schools , curtailing travel , shutting theatres , putting citizens potentially exposed to the coronavirus—myself included , after being seated at a café near an infected Italian tourist—into fourteen-day quarantine .
More controversially , the Secret Service is tracking infected people , and the people they visit , with cell-phone monitoring that was developed to track terrorist cells .
On Tuesday , it was announced that eighty per cent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ furloughed until mid-April , and some seventy per cent of employees in the private sector will be required to stay home ; the police have been advised to prepare for enforcing “ an inevitable countrywide lockdown.
” Unlike in other nations , however , the dread , and the measures , landed in the aftermath of the third general election in twelve months ; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’ s tenure had never been more contentious , or the country ’ s divisions more vivid , than during the campaign .
There is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is preëmpting , but hardly resolving , the deeper political crisis .
That is centered on Netanyahu ’ s vilifying of Israel ’ s Arab minority—which had been escalating , apparently in an effort to distract attention from his legal jeopardy ( he faces trial on three criminal indictments ) , just before the wave of state actions on the pandemic .
As of Thursday , the courts are suspended , the Finance Ministry is cutting salaries and disbursing funds under emergency powers , and the police are acting without parliamentary oversight .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ temporary—and merely coincidental with Netanyahu ’ s political machinations .
Still , Israel can not emerge from this compound crisis the same country it was when it went in .
Just two weeks ago , when the final election tally showed Netanyahu ’ s bloc , led by his Likud Party , three seats shy of a majority in the Knesset , Benny Gantz , the leader of the Blue and White Party , signalled that he would try to form an opposition bloc capable of removing the Prime Minister .
That bloc @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Joint List , a group of mainly Arab-Israeli parties .
On March 4th , Netanyahu , in turn , indicated that he was prepared to bring the country to the edge of civil violence : he called together a public meeting of his allies and , producing a Sharpie and an easel pad , explained that the “ Zionist-right ” had won fifty-eight seats , while the “ Zionist-left ” had won only forty-seven .
In no legitimate reckoning , Netanyahu stated , might Arab members— “ friends of terror ” —be included @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s voice is clear , ” he said , making clear what people he was talking about .
Three days later , he went further .
“ My comrades and I , and the millions who voted for us , won ’ t let this happen , ” he said .
Gantz “ undermines the foundations of democracy and subverts the will of the voter.
” It seemed to many that Netanyahu was calling his supporters into the streets , much as he did in the fall of 1995 , when he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oslo Accords , just weeks before the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin .
Gantz was having none of it , but he also understood how charged the atmosphere had become .
“ Bibi , we saw what happened when the incitement was out of control and no one stopped it in 1995 , ” Gantz wrote on his Facebook page on March 6th .
“ If you think you intimidate or deter us , you are making a serious mistake .
You only prove why it is so important to replace you.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t wake up , the next political assassination is around the corner.
” On March 10th , after Gantz was subjected to numerous online threats and verbally attacked on his way to deliver a speech , the Secret Service took over his security detail .
One by-product of the newer emergency—the one occasioned by the pandemic—is that the anticipated demonstrations and rallies , which made the post-election moment seem so dangerous , feel contained , even if the virus is not .
There can now be no calls to the streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yet the political uncertainty remains , as does the discord .
Both Netanyahu and Gantz are advocating for an emergency national-unity government , but each means something very different by it , reflecting where each expects to gain political leverage , and impinging , inevitably , on how each regards the inclusion of Arab Israelis in civil society .
On Sunday , President Reuven Rivlin awarded the mandate to form a new government to Gantz , whose bloc , including the Joint List , still holds the narrowest of majorities—sixty-one Knesset seats out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Monday , Gantz promised to “ form a national-unity government , as broad as possible , within days ” —insinuating that he means to include some Israeli Arab members in a coalition , or rely on the outside support of the Joint List to form a minority government , or accept certain of its conditions ( such as no unilateral annexations in the West Bank ) , or all three .
It was time , he said , to “ put aside the boycotts and destruction and to reconnect all the tribes of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” —to “ defeat the coronavirus and defeat hatred.
” One would think that the pandemic might cause Israel ’ s Jewish majority to be less receptive to the anti-Arab hostility of the self-styled “ Zionist-right.
” This may be the case ; Haaretz reports that , according to official figures from the Health Ministry and the Central Bureau of Statistics , some seventeen per cent of Israel ’ s physicians , twenty-four per cent of its nurses , and nearly half its pharmacists are Arabs .
Indeed , the state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Palestinians who are Israeli citizens , and Palestinians under occupation all inhabit the same , small ecosystem .
What more perfectly than a plague could teach the necessity of , as Albert Camus famously put it , “ common decency ” ?
Gantz , for his part , is normalizing a level of coöperation with Ayman Odeh , the Joint List ’ s leader , that both might have thought impossible just a few weeks ago .
That coöperation is all the more remarkable since both sides know that it is purely strategic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the Prime Ministership ; if the maneuver succeeds , and Netanyahu is forced from the leadership of Likud , Gantz would immediately turn to the new Likud leaders to form a secular-national government , with Avigdor Lieberman , the secular-right-wing party leader , and return the Joint List to the margins .
Any strategy to rid the country of Netanyahu now feels like a democratic imperative .
With so much at stake , and the virus spreading , coöperation seems paramount in any case ; it seems anachronistic for the leaders of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to retreat into competing national narratives .
What Gantz could not foresee was how the timing of the virus would play to Netanyahu ’ s strengths .
General anxiety and a sensed need for government action have given him an opportunity to appear indispensable , while making an authoritarian style and Jewish tribal solidarity seem second nature .
Much like Donald Trump , Netanyahu has been on prime-time television virtually every day during the past week—flanked by government epidemiologists and economic planners—detailing methods of personal hygiene , bragging that Israel is an exemplar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funds for economic relief .
Netanyahu has also been sure to hand the microphone to political allies on the right , including the religious right , who praise his tirelessness and his skill .

In Israel, as in other countries roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals in the health and finance ministries have been leading the implementation of extraordinary measures: closing schools, curtailing travel, shutting theatres, putting citizens potentially exposed to the coronavirus—myself included, after being seated at a café near an infected Italian tourist—into fourteen-day quarantine. More controversially, the Secret Service is tracking infected people, and the people they visit, with cell-phone monitoring that was developed to track terrorist cells. On Tuesday, it was announced that eighty per cent of civil servants and municipal employees will be furloughed until mid-April, and some seventy per cent of employees in the private sector will be required to stay home; the police have been advised to prepare for enforcing “an inevitable countrywide lockdown.”
Unlike in other nations, however, the dread, and the measures, landed in the aftermath of the third general election in twelve months; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure had never been more contentious, or the country’s divisions more vivid, than during the campaign. There is a pervasive feeling that the public-health crisis is preëmpting, but hardly resolving, the deeper political crisis. That is centered on Netanyahu’s vilifying of Israel’s Arab minority—which had been escalating, apparently in an effort to distract attention from his legal jeopardy (he faces trial on three criminal indictments), just before the wave of state actions on the pandemic. As of Thursday, the courts are suspended, the Finance Ministry is cutting salaries and disbursing funds under emergency powers, and the police are acting without parliamentary oversight. These dramatic changes are, presumably, temporary—and merely coincidental with Netanyahu’s political machinations. Still, Israel cannot emerge from this compound crisis the same country it was when it went in.
Just two weeks ago, when the final election tally showed Netanyahu’s bloc, led by his Likud Party, three seats shy of a majority in the Knesset, Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White Party, signalled that he would try to form an opposition bloc capable of removing the Prime Minister. That bloc would include the fifteen members of the Joint List, a group of mainly Arab-Israeli parties. On March 4th, Netanyahu, in turn, indicated that he was prepared to bring the country to the edge of civil violence: he called together a public meeting of his allies and, producing a Sharpie and an easel pad, explained that the “Zionist-right” had won fifty-eight seats, while the “Zionist-left” had won only forty-seven. In no legitimate reckoning, Netanyahu stated, might Arab members—“friends of terror”—be included in the government. “The people’s voice is clear,” he said, making clear what people he was talking about.
Three days later, he went further. “My comrades and I, and the millions who voted for us, won’t let this happen,” he said. Gantz “undermines the foundations of democracy and subverts the will of the voter.” It seemed to many that Netanyahu was calling his supporters into the streets, much as he did in the fall of 1995, when he incited a massive Jerusalem demonstration against the Oslo Accords, just weeks before the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Gantz was having none of it, but he also understood how charged the atmosphere had become. “Bibi, we saw what happened when the incitement was out of control and no one stopped it in 1995,” Gantz wrote on his Facebook page on March 6th. “If you think you intimidate or deter us, you are making a serious mistake. You only prove why it is so important to replace you.” He added, “If we don’t wake up, the next political assassination is around the corner.” On March 10th, after Gantz was subjected to numerous online threats and verbally attacked on his way to deliver a speech, the Secret Service took over his security detail.
One by-product of the newer emergency—the one occasioned by the pandemic—is that the anticipated demonstrations and rallies, which made the post-election moment seem so dangerous, feel contained, even if the virus is not. There can now be no calls to the streets, no incitement of large audiences. Yet the political uncertainty remains, as does the discord. Both Netanyahu and Gantz are advocating for an emergency national-unity government, but each means something very different by it, reflecting where each expects to gain political leverage, and impinging, inevitably, on how each regards the inclusion of Arab Israelis in civil society.
On Sunday, President Reuven Rivlin awarded the mandate to form a new government to Gantz, whose bloc, including the Joint List, still holds the narrowest of majorities—sixty-one Knesset seats out of a hundred and twenty. On Monday, Gantz promised to “form a national-unity government, as broad as possible, within days”—insinuating that he means to include some Israeli Arab members in a coalition, or rely on the outside support of the Joint List to form a minority government, or accept certain of its conditions (such as no unilateral annexations in the West Bank), or all three. It was time, he said, to “put aside the boycotts and destruction and to reconnect all the tribes of Israel and all the citizens of Israel”—to “defeat the coronavirus and defeat hatred.”
One would think that the pandemic might cause Israel’s Jewish majority to be less receptive to the anti-Arab hostility of the self-styled “Zionist-right.” This may be the case; Haaretz reports that, according to official figures from the Health Ministry and the Central Bureau of Statistics, some seventeen per cent of Israel’s physicians, twenty-four per cent of its nurses, and nearly half its pharmacists are Arabs. Indeed, the state’s emergency measures reinforce how Israeli Jews, Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, and Palestinians under occupation all inhabit the same, small ecosystem. What more perfectly than a plague could teach the necessity of, as Albert Camus famously put it, “common decency”?
Gantz, for his part, is normalizing a level of coöperation with Ayman Odeh, the Joint List’s leader, that both might have thought impossible just a few weeks ago. That coöperation is all the more remarkable since both sides know that it is purely strategic. The goal is to shoehorn Gantz into the Prime Ministership; if the maneuver succeeds, and Netanyahu is forced from the leadership of Likud, Gantz would immediately turn to the new Likud leaders to form a secular-national government, with Avigdor Lieberman, the secular-right-wing party leader, and return the Joint List to the margins. Any strategy to rid the country of Netanyahu now feels like a democratic imperative. With so much at stake, and the virus spreading, coöperation seems paramount in any case; it seems anachronistic for the leaders of Blue and White and the Joint List to retreat into competing national narratives.
What Gantz could not foresee was how the timing of the virus would play to Netanyahu’s strengths. General anxiety and a sensed need for government action have given him an opportunity to appear indispensable, while making an authoritarian style and Jewish tribal solidarity seem second nature. Much like Donald Trump, Netanyahu has been on prime-time television virtually every day during the past week—flanked by government epidemiologists and economic planners—detailing methods of personal hygiene, bragging that Israel is an exemplar to the world, and calling for funds for economic relief. Netanyahu has also been sure to hand the microphone to political allies on the right, including the religious right, who praise his tirelessness and his skill.
If Trump’s aim is to rally his voters for the upcoming election, Netanyahu’s is to make opposition voters forget the results of the previous one. And his performances seem to be working. Trump, so far, has largely failed to elide criticism of the foundational blunders of his Administration. Netanyahu, who, for the past ten years, has severely underfunded hospitals, doctors’ salaries, and medical education, has largely succeeded in escaping such criticism by flaunting his mastery of the stringent guidelines imposed by the health bureaucracy. If there is to be a national-unity government, he insists, it must be led first by him—and no Arabs will influence its formation. In effect, he is trying to force Gantz to accept him as the Jewish state’s, and the Jewish people’s, emergency strongman and savior.


newyorker--2020-03-19--What to Watch, Listen to, and Read While Coronavirus Self-Quarantining

Now is the time to stay inside as much as possible and do your part to flatten the curve , yet it ’ s equally important to give yourself a break from the news .
Here are some suggestions from New Yorker writers and artists to ease the stress of isolation .
Each year , Emily Nussbaum wildly fails at selecting just ten television shows for her not-top-ten list .
Here are three selections from 2019 : • None “ Dickinson ” ( Apple TV+ ) —A dreamy show about weirdos , for weirdos .
The premise is that Emily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scored to Billie Eilish .
It sounded gimmicky , but , a few episodes in , this stoned , surprising début got under my skin .
• None “ BoJack Horseman ” ( Netflix ) —The sharpest response to # MeToo on television , a satirical interrogation of antihero art , and also a rich meditation on addiction ( to everything , including TV ) .
• None “ Couples Therapy ” ( Showtime ) —Reality show or horror movie ?
Either way , there was something riveting about this peek into other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sessions with the manipulative narcissist who made me fantasize about performing a citizen ’ s divorce .
Troy Patterson ’ s thematic list of the best in television nominated John Mulaney as class clown .
Check out his recent spin on “ Saturday Night Live.
” And , according to Troy , there are really no further excuses not to watch “ Succession ” ( HBO ) .
Doreen St. Félix doesn ’ t think “ The Goop Lab ” ( Netflix ) is a great show , but it ’ s worth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the “ magical thinking ” that powers the Goop brand .
Richard Brody is also a prodigious listmaker .
His “ Twenty-Seven Best Movies of the Decade ” reaches to all corners of the cinema .
Here are five films from American directors ( that should be easy to find on streaming services ) to get started : Brody also has a Facebook movie group where he is recommending new films to watch .
“ He dreamed , drew , pondered , probed , and agonized on film , and what resulted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the grip of a thriller and the elegance of a waltz , ” Anthony Lane wrote about the “ immortal world ” of Ingmar Bergman for the Swedish filmmaker ’ s centennial , in 2018 .
There is really no wrong place to start watching—perhaps “ Cries and Whispers ” —since , as Lane points out , “ all these movies pass each other in orbit , sometimes decades apart .
The more of them you observe , in wonder , the greater their gravitational pull.
” Sarah Larson ’ s best podcast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Please , please listen to Season 2 of “ In the Dark ” if you have not already . )
One of her less well-known picks is this series from the BBC : Katy Waldman ’ s best book list of 2019 had ten selections , including “ Trust Exercise , ” by Susan Choi , who was once a fact checker at The New Yorker .
Here is Waldman ’ s recommendation of the novel :

Now is the time to stay inside as much as possible and do your part to flatten the curve, yet it’s equally important to give yourself a break from the news. Here are some suggestions from New Yorker writers and artists to ease the stress of isolation.
Television
Each year, Emily Nussbaum wildly fails at selecting just ten television shows for her not-top-ten list. Here are three selections from 2019:
“ Dickinson ” (Apple TV+)—A dreamy show about weirdos, for weirdos. The premise is that Emily Dickinson speaks in modern teen-age patois, scored to Billie Eilish. It sounded gimmicky, but, a few episodes in, this stoned, surprising début got under my skin.
“ BoJack Horseman ” (Netflix)—The sharpest response to #MeToo on television, a satirical interrogation of antihero art, and also a rich meditation on addiction (to everything, including TV).
“Couples Therapy” (Showtime)—Reality show or horror movie? Either way, there was something riveting about this peek into other people’s marriages, especially the sessions with the manipulative narcissist who made me fantasize about performing a citizen’s divorce.
Troy Patterson’s thematic list of the best in television nominated John Mulaney as class clown. Check out his recent spin on “Saturday Night Live.” And, according to Troy, there are really no further excuses not to watch “Succession” (HBO). Doreen St. Félix doesn’t think “The Goop Lab” (Netflix) is a great show, but it’s worth streaming to further savor her surgical takedown of the “magical thinking” that powers the Goop brand.
Movies
Richard Brody is also a prodigious listmaker. His “Twenty-Seven Best Movies of the Decade” reaches to all corners of the cinema. Here are five films from American directors (that should be easy to find on streaming services) to get started:
“ Somewhere ,” 2010, Sofia Coppola
“ Margaret ,” 2011, Kenneth Lonergan
“ An Oversimplification of Her Beauty ,” 2013, Terence Nance
“ The Wolf of Wall Street ,” 2013, Martin Scorsese
“Red Hook Summer,” 2012, Spike Lee
Illustration by Amanda Berglund
Brody also has a Facebook movie group where he is recommending new films to watch.
“He dreamed, drew, pondered, probed, and agonized on film, and what resulted, more often than not, bore the grip of a thriller and the elegance of a waltz,” Anthony Lane wrote about the “immortal world” of Ingmar Bergman for the Swedish filmmaker’s centennial, in 2018. There is really no wrong place to start watching—perhaps “Cries and Whispers”—since, as Lane points out, “all these movies pass each other in orbit, sometimes decades apart. The more of them you observe, in wonder, the greater their gravitational pull.”
Podcasts
Sarah Larson’s best podcast list from 2019 contains many gems. (Please, please listen to Season 2 of “In the Dark” if you have not already.) One of her less well-known picks is this series from the BBC:
“Tunnel 29” tells the story of Joachim Rudolph, who, in 1961 and 1962, as a young engineering student, dug a tunnel between West and East Berlin and helped twenty-nine people escape Communist East Germany. The smartly structured, elegantly written series, narrated and produced by Helena Merriman, makes use of several strengths, among them evocative sound design, uncommonly naturalistic audio acting, and extraordinary footage from the tunnel escape itself. Merriman’s evocation of the night the Berlin Wall went up is particularly stunning—houses divided in half, families on opposite sides.
Books
Katy Waldman’s best book list of 2019 had ten selections, including “Trust Exercise,” by Susan Choi, who was once a fact checker at The New Yorker. Here is Waldman’s recommendation of the novel:


newyorker--2020-03-19--The Italians Making Music on Balconies Under Coronavirus Quarantine

“ The language of music is common to all generations and nations , ” Gioachino Rossini , the virtuosic opera composer , once said .
“ It is understood by everybody , since it is understood with the heart.
” In recent weeks , Italians have embraced the language of music as a means to communicate with their neighbors and endure the ravages of COVID-19 as a collective .
At a time when the most important music halls in the country , from La Scala to La Fenice , have closed their doors to the public , citizens of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and their voices , to fill the silence of seclusion .
Music has provided unity in times of division throughout history ; now Italians are showing the world that , if only for a moment , it can also help them transcend the anxiety brought by a pandemic .
Italy is reporting thousands of new coronavirus cases daily .
With more than forty thousand positive tests , the country ’ s death toll , at more than three thousand , is the highest in the world , surpassing even China ’ s .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ exactly when the amateur concerts began , they have coincided with the country ’ s lockdown , which first took effect in northern Italy , where the virus was detected in late February .
Italians have now been at home for nine days , and , from Bologna to Rome , they have invited their neighbors to engage in what they call a “ Flash Mob Sonoro , ” or a sound flash mob .
Musical competency is not a requirement , and neither is possessing a traditional instrument .
A pot or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only because their sounds will join those of many other people who , from their balconies and windows , are hoping to create a bond through music .
• How to practice social distancing , from responding to a sick housemate to the pros and cons of ordering food .
• How people cope and create new customs amid a pandemic .
• What it means to contain and mitigate the coronavirus outbreak .
• How much of the world is likely to be quarantined ?
• Donald Trump in the time of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to spread for more than a year before a vaccine could be widely available .
• We are all irrational panic shoppers .
• The strange terror of watching the coronavirus take Rome .

“The language of music is common to all generations and nations,” Gioachino Rossini, the virtuosic opera composer, once said. “It is understood by everybody, since it is understood with the heart.” In recent weeks, Italians have embraced the language of music as a means to communicate with their neighbors and endure the ravages of COVID-19 as a collective. At a time when the most important music halls in the country, from La Scala to La Fenice, have closed their doors to the public, citizens of all ages have used their own instruments, and their voices, to fill the silence of seclusion. Music has provided unity in times of division throughout history; now Italians are showing the world that, if only for a moment, it can also help them transcend the anxiety brought by a pandemic.
Italy is reporting thousands of new coronavirus cases daily. With more than forty thousand positive tests, the country’s death toll, at more than three thousand, is the highest in the world, surpassing even China’s. Although it’s hard to say exactly when the amateur concerts began, they have coincided with the country’s lockdown, which first took effect in northern Italy, where the virus was detected in late February. Italians have now been at home for nine days, and, from Bologna to Rome, they have invited their neighbors to engage in what they call a “Flash Mob Sonoro,” or a sound flash mob. Musical competency is not a requirement, and neither is possessing a traditional instrument. A pot or a wooden spoon can suffice, if only because their sounds will join those of many other people who, from their balconies and windows, are hoping to create a bond through music.
A Guide to the Coronavirus


newyorker--2020-03-19--Inside France’s “Public-Health War” Against the Coronavirus

French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that his country is “ at war , a public-health war , ” as it faces the coronavirus pandemic .
People are not allowed to go outside other than for essential business , and the French medical system is under severe strain as it tries to prepare for a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases .
So far , France has reported more than nine thousand cases and more than two hundred and sixty deaths .
I spoke by phone on Wednesday with Jean-Michel Molina , the head of the infectious-diseases department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Paris Diderot .
During our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , we discussed how France is preparing for a huge increase in the number of patients , the mood among medical professionals in Paris , and what doctors there have learned from talking to their overwhelmed colleagues in Italy .
What have your days been like over the past week ?
We have been , over the last week , under high pressure , I would say , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the I.C.U .
and the general infectious-disease ward .
The number of patients in the general ward jumped from almost zero to nearly thirty , and there are twelve patients in the I.C.U .
We have seen a lot of patients being hospitalized in just a week , so an increase in the number of cases .
What preparations are you making for things getting much worse than they are now ?
The main issue was to get organized in the hospital , to have dedicated pathways for patients suspected of having the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in the intensive-care unit , in the general ward , what we tried to do was to have dedicated pathways , and dedicated wards for these patients , so as to avoid cross-infection within the hospital and also to protect the health-care workers in the hospital .
That is our priority—to protect the health-care workers in the hospital .
Anything that was not urgent has been postponed , and , in the surgery ward , in a lot of medical wards as well , we have reduced the activity quite drastically , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers from these sectors , because taking care of patients with COVID-19 is quite cumbersome .
You have to respect a lot of rules to protect the health-care workers .
It takes a lot of time to get dressed and to wear the appropriate mask and to follow the rules .
What guidance have you been getting from the local and/or national governments ?
You know , it has been quite well coördinated .
France is a quite centralized country .
What the government has done over the last couple of days is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeing a lot of patients and that our capabilities with the I.C.U .
might be limited .
So we have tried to prepare everyone to receive a lot of patients , and that is why the government decided to confine everyone at home who could stay home , to avoid transmission and to try to postpone the peak of the epidemic so that we could have enough beds in the I.C.U .
and the general ward to take care of the patients .
What we are afraid of is being overwhelmed by patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ward , and so that is why we are closing a lot of activities , to have beds available for these patients .
The medical I.C.U .
and the surgical I.C.U .
are getting together and opening up a lot of beds in case we need them .
And we know we are going to need them .
What is your biggest fear going forward ?
The biggest fear is to have limited capabilities in the I.C.U.s .
That ’ s the bottleneck .
We can open wards as long as we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hospital , so we have enough health-care workers who can be dispatched to the COVID ward .
So , the bottleneck is really the intensive-care unit .
A lot of these patients get worse after a few days in the medical ward , and need ventilation , and clearly the burden is on the I.C.U .
right now .
Have you been playing a role in talking to your colleagues ?
How anxious are doctors and nurses and— Yes , in my hospital I have been elected as the representative of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a pretty good position to address the medical community , and we are trained to make sure we are protecting them .
And that ’ s why it is very important to make sure we can detect any suspected case of COVID early enough , so we can put this person in isolation right away .
The other issue is to have a dedicated path for health-care workers to be detected as soon as they have any symptoms that could be suggestive of COVID , so that these people can be put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So , we have , essentially , in Paris , a home monitoring system that was used by cardiologists in the past for all people who have a suspected or confirmed infection but who don ’ t need to be hospitalized .
I think it is very critical in hospitals to have ways for health-care workers to be tested with even limited symptoms .
I think that there is a feeling that this is something we need to face all together .
We have seen , within the hospital , a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Everyone is ready to stop activities to make health-care workers available from other sectors where they need more people to take care of people with COVID .
People are concerned but ready to do what they need to do .
We have a lot of retired physicians and physicians in the other wards .
Everyone has shown very good spirit trying to help everyone , and that is nice .
That is really nice .
And we are working well with the administration as well .
We have coördination at the local level @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and national coördination .
So we have a lot of meetings to have everyone on the same page .
Have you learned anything from doctors in Italy ?
We have had a lot of phone calls with our colleagues in Italy so that they could help us to be prepared .
That was very helpful , again , to be prepared to receive a lot of patients and have beds in the I.C.U.
, and to open new beds .
That is what we have done .
And making sure that we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
doctors who could be mobilized in these units .
What is the mood in Paris generally , if you have been out at all ?
Maybe you have just been at work .
Well , the streets are empty .
It takes me less time to go home .
I am going home now .
Yesterday , I went home much later .
So , today , I am trying to go home at a reasonable time .
I think people are understanding that this is a critical situation and we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people have died , unfortunately , and more will die .
It is not a simple flu .
It ’ s much more severe than that .
We have to be cautious and prepared .

French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that his country is “at war, a public-health war,” as it faces the coronavirus pandemic. People are not allowed to go outside other than for essential business, and the French medical system is under severe strain as it tries to prepare for a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases. So far, France has reported more than nine thousand cases and more than two hundred and sixty deaths.
I spoke by phone on Wednesday with Jean-Michel Molina, the head of the infectious-diseases department at Saint-Louis Hospital, in Paris, and a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Paris Diderot. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed how France is preparing for a huge increase in the number of patients, the mood among medical professionals in Paris, and what doctors there have learned from talking to their overwhelmed colleagues in Italy.
What have your days been like over the past week?
We have been, over the last week, under high pressure, I would say, to be able to hospitalize patients in the I.C.U. and the general infectious-disease ward. The number of patients in the general ward jumped from almost zero to nearly thirty, and there are twelve patients in the I.C.U. We have seen a lot of patients being hospitalized in just a week, so an increase in the number of cases.
What preparations are you making for things getting much worse than they are now?
The main issue was to get organized in the hospital, to have dedicated pathways for patients suspected of having the COVID-19 infection. In the emergency room, in the intensive-care unit, in the general ward, what we tried to do was to have dedicated pathways, and dedicated wards for these patients, so as to avoid cross-infection within the hospital and also to protect the health-care workers in the hospital. That is our priority—to protect the health-care workers in the hospital. Anything that was not urgent has been postponed, and, in the surgery ward, in a lot of medical wards as well, we have reduced the activity quite drastically, so that we can use the health-care workers from these sectors, because taking care of patients with COVID-19 is quite cumbersome. You have to respect a lot of rules to protect the health-care workers. It takes a lot of time to get dressed and to wear the appropriate mask and to follow the rules.
What guidance have you been getting from the local and/or national governments?
You know, it has been quite well coördinated. France is a quite centralized country. What the government has done over the last couple of days is acknowledge that we are going to be seeing a lot of patients and that our capabilities with the I.C.U. might be limited. So we have tried to prepare everyone to receive a lot of patients, and that is why the government decided to confine everyone at home who could stay home, to avoid transmission and to try to postpone the peak of the epidemic so that we could have enough beds in the I.C.U. and the general ward to take care of the patients. What we are afraid of is being overwhelmed by patients in the I.C.U. and the general ward, and so that is why we are closing a lot of activities, to have beds available for these patients. The medical I.C.U. and the surgical I.C.U. are getting together and opening up a lot of beds in case we need them. And we know we are going to need them.
What is your biggest fear going forward?
The biggest fear is to have limited capabilities in the I.C.U.s. That’s the bottleneck. We can open wards as long as we have reduced the activities in other parts of the hospital, so we have enough health-care workers who can be dispatched to the COVID ward. So, the bottleneck is really the intensive-care unit. A lot of these patients get worse after a few days in the medical ward, and need ventilation, and clearly the burden is on the I.C.U. right now.
Have you been playing a role in talking to your colleagues? How anxious are doctors and nurses and—
Yes, in my hospital I have been elected as the representative of the medical community, so that put me in a pretty good position to address the medical community, and we are trained to make sure we are protecting them. And that’s why it is very important to make sure we can detect any suspected case of COVID early enough, so we can put this person in isolation right away. The other issue is to have a dedicated path for health-care workers to be detected as soon as they have any symptoms that could be suggestive of COVID, so that these people can be put out of work and monitored at home. So, we have, essentially, in Paris, a home monitoring system that was used by cardiologists in the past for all people who have a suspected or confirmed infection but who don’t need to be hospitalized. I think it is very critical in hospitals to have ways for health-care workers to be tested with even limited symptoms.
How are medical workers feeling psychologically?
I think that there is a feeling that this is something we need to face all together. We have seen, within the hospital, a lot of solidarity among physicians and surgeons. Everyone is ready to stop activities to make health-care workers available from other sectors where they need more people to take care of people with COVID. People are concerned but ready to do what they need to do. We have a lot of retired physicians and physicians in the other wards. Everyone has shown very good spirit trying to help everyone, and that is nice. That is really nice. And we are working well with the administration as well. We have coördination at the local level within the hospital, within Paris, and national coördination. So we have a lot of meetings to have everyone on the same page.
Have you learned anything from doctors in Italy?
We have had a lot of phone calls with our colleagues in Italy so that they could help us to be prepared. That was very helpful, again, to be prepared to receive a lot of patients and have beds in the I.C.U., and to open new beds. That is what we have done. And making sure that we have enough nonmedical staff, but also I.C.U. doctors who could be mobilized in these units.
What is the mood in Paris generally, if you have been out at all? Maybe you have just been at work.


newyorker--2020-03-19--The Retreating Horizon of Time in Coronavirus Quarantine

As space constricts , for many of us , to the four walls of our houses and apartments , time seems to have overflowed its usual containers .
It feels as if we have stowed away in the belly of a ship , uncertain of the duration of the voyage and without a view of the stars to chart our positions .
A day feels one way when we imagine weeks of this , another way when we imagine months .
The port appears to be receding as we approach it : a week ago , it felt like the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be over in late March , then in early April .
On Monday , the President mentioned “ July or August.
” News reports later that day seemed to suggest that we ’ d be living more or less this way until a vaccine for Covid-19 was available , in perhaps eighteen months .
( Much worse fates than boredom may await some of us , if the terrifying forecasts hold . )
What should we do to keep our eyes off the retreating horizon ?
The sixteenth-century scholar Erasmus often read while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote some of his famous treatise “ The Praise of Folly ” on horseback .
“ I thought I ought to do something , at least , ” he wrote to Thomas More , “ since that time seemed hardly suited to serious thinking.
” The crews on whaling ships made scrimshaw ; the astronauts in Stanley Kubrick ’ s film “ 2001 : A Space Odyssey ” jogged on the ceiling , in zero gravity , or played chess against their computer , HAL .
On Twitter , the literary journal A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a communal reading , twelve pages per day , of Tolstoy ’ s “ War and Peace ” —a novel that is synonymous with the time it takes to read it , and one of our culture ’ s enduring symbols of near-endlessness .
As the harried bookworm , played by Burgess Meredith , exclaims at the end of an iconic “ Twilight Zone ” episode , after he settles into a pile of post-nuclear rubble and gets cracking on a stack of books : now , finally , we have “ time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of temporal improvement seems once again relevant .
This essay is an example of an improvement , taken up between obligations .
In my two-volume edition of Robert Chambers ’ s nineteenth-century “ The Book of Days , ” I read about the Chancellor d ’ Aguesseau , who , finding “ that his wife always kept him waiting a quarter of an hour after the dinner-bell had rung , resolved to devote the time to writing a book on jurisprudence , and , putting the project in execution , in course of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ volumes.
” Reading a poem is an improvement , especially if it ’ s a timed experience , as when your subway stop is approaching .
Writing one can be an improvement , too : Frank O ’ Hara is said to have seen if he could finish a poem right before the arrival of a dinner guest , as a way of building drama and suspense into the moment .
An improvement is a way of salvaging junk time , in-between time , whatever the duration .
Indeed , on social media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ force , brainstorming about how to pass the hours .
Teachers and superintendents shared recommended schedules for students who were stranded by Covid-19 .
Soon , parents started posting their children ’ s own , adorable versions of these timetables .
The poet Deborah Landau shared the daily schedule her daughter had made , which included , between 8:17 and 8:57 A.M. , a “ Dance Party.
” Exhausted parents posted their own mock schedules , the hours broken into smaller and smaller units as they approached the unthinkably remote hour of noon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of her tone , recommended a craft project involving an elaborate glamping setup in her baronial living room .
For the first time in history , it seemed preferable to have teen-agers , as my wife and I do , instead of smaller , cuter children who are willing to return certain shows of affection .
Our sons were upstairs , entirely on their own time .
The beauty of social media is that it creates real communities and relationships ; I love the people on my Twitter , though I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But it also poses a problem : the constant refreshing of information divides the day up into anxious , supercharged nanoseconds .
We ’ re addicted but not absorbed .
Several users , quickly and roundly and efficiently mocked by the beleaguered , reminded us that , for example , Shakespeare—the writer , William Shakespeare—wrote “ King Lear ” during the plague , and Newton worked out his theory of gravity .
Go fuck yourself , Newton and Shakespeare , was the swift and near-unanimous response .
I collect homemade books created by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the grips of extraordinary longueurs .
For example , a little “ Cahier de Chansons , ” a song notebook , which was made at the end of the Second World War by a French officer imprisoned in a German stalag .
( I ’ ve posted images of the book on Twitter , because my phone ’ s camera can ’ t really capture it well . )
On the pages devoted to “ Miette , ” an old romantic ditty , a young woman , carrying a bouquet of flowers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lush field .
I also own two volumes of a mysterious , homemade periodical that a group of Victorian teen-agers seems to have put together to amuse themselves one summer .
It includes short stories , puzzles , riddles , poems , comics , and other time-taking exercises .
There is an acrostic , signed by the pseudonym “ Midget.
” Its prompt reads “ The initials of the Shakesperian characters by whom the following words were spoken , taken in rotation , give the name of one of the most famous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : This little word puzzle has gone unsolved for around a hundred and fifty years or so .
Who will take a crack at it ?
We have the time .
• How to practice social distancing , from responding to a sick housemate to the pros and cons of ordering food .
• How people cope and create new customs amid a pandemic .
• What it means to contain and mitigate the coronavirus outbreak .
• How much of the world is likely to be quarantined ?
• Donald Trump in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus is likely to spread for more than a year before a vaccine could be widely available .
• We are all irrational panic shoppers .
• The strange terror of watching the coronavirus take Rome .

As space constricts, for many of us, to the four walls of our houses and apartments, time seems to have overflowed its usual containers. It feels as if we have stowed away in the belly of a ship, uncertain of the duration of the voyage and without a view of the stars to chart our positions. A day feels one way when we imagine weeks of this, another way when we imagine months. The port appears to be receding as we approach it: a week ago, it felt like the journey-less journey on the S.S. Sameness would be over in late March, then in early April. On Monday, the President mentioned “July or August.” News reports later that day seemed to suggest that we’d be living more or less this way until a vaccine for Covid-19 was available, in perhaps eighteen months. (Much worse fates than boredom may await some of us, if the terrifying forecasts hold.)
What should we do to keep our eyes off the retreating horizon? The sixteenth-century scholar Erasmus often read while seated backward on his horse, and wrote some of his famous treatise “The Praise of Folly” on horseback. “I thought I ought to do something, at least,” he wrote to Thomas More, “since that time seemed hardly suited to serious thinking.” The crews on whaling ships made scrimshaw; the astronauts in Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey” jogged on the ceiling, in zero gravity, or played chess against their computer, HAL. On Twitter, the literary journal A Public Space announced that it would host a communal reading, twelve pages per day, of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”—a novel that is synonymous with the time it takes to read it, and one of our culture’s enduring symbols of near-endlessness. As the harried bookworm, played by Burgess Meredith, exclaims at the end of an iconic “Twilight Zone” episode, after he settles into a pile of post-nuclear rubble and gets cracking on a stack of books: now, finally, we have “time enough at last.”
The hoary ethic of temporal improvement seems once again relevant. This essay is an example of an improvement, taken up between obligations. In my two-volume edition of Robert Chambers’s nineteenth-century “The Book of Days,” I read about the Chancellor d’Aguesseau, who, finding “that his wife always kept him waiting a quarter of an hour after the dinner-bell had rung, resolved to devote the time to writing a book on jurisprudence, and, putting the project in execution, in course of time produced a work in four quarto volumes.” Reading a poem is an improvement, especially if it’s a timed experience, as when your subway stop is approaching. Writing one can be an improvement, too: Frank O’Hara is said to have seen if he could finish a poem right before the arrival of a dinner guest, as a way of building drama and suspense into the moment.
An improvement is a way of salvaging junk time, in-between time, whatever the duration. Indeed, on social media, the virtual community was out in force, brainstorming about how to pass the hours. Teachers and superintendents shared recommended schedules for students who were stranded by Covid-19. Soon, parents started posting their children’s own, adorable versions of these timetables. The poet Deborah Landau shared the daily schedule her daughter had made, which included, between 8:17 and 8:57 A.M., a “Dance Party.” Exhausted parents posted their own mock schedules, the hours broken into smaller and smaller units as they approached the unthinkably remote hour of noon. Ivanka Trump, ever in control of her tone, recommended a craft project involving an elaborate glamping setup in her baronial living room. For the first time in history, it seemed preferable to have teen-agers, as my wife and I do, instead of smaller, cuter children who are willing to return certain shows of affection. Our sons were upstairs, entirely on their own time.
The beauty of social media is that it creates real communities and relationships; I love the people on my Twitter, though I’ve met only a few in person. But it also poses a problem: the constant refreshing of information divides the day up into anxious, supercharged nanoseconds. We’re addicted but not absorbed. Several users, quickly and roundly and efficiently mocked by the beleaguered, reminded us that, for example, Shakespeare—the writer, William Shakespeare—wrote “King Lear” during the plague, and Newton worked out his theory of gravity. Go fuck yourself, Newton and Shakespeare, was the swift and near-unanimous response.
I collect homemade books created by people from the past who found themselves in the grips of extraordinary longueurs. For example, a little “Cahier de Chansons,” a song notebook, which was made at the end of the Second World War by a French officer imprisoned in a German stalag. (I’ve posted images of the book on Twitter, because my phone’s camera can’t really capture it well.) On the pages devoted to “Miette,” an old romantic ditty, a young woman, carrying a bouquet of flowers, and her friendly dog appear in a lush field. I also own two volumes of a mysterious, homemade periodical that a group of Victorian teen-agers seems to have put together to amuse themselves one summer. It includes short stories, puzzles, riddles, poems, comics, and other time-taking exercises. There is an acrostic, signed by the pseudonym “Midget.” Its prompt reads “The initials of the Shakesperian characters by whom the following words were spoken, taken in rotation, give the name of one of the most famous modern writers.” Here are the clues:
“What find I here, fair Portia’s counterfeit?” “Make the doors upon a woman’s wit, and it will out at the casement; shut that, and ’twill out at the key-hole; stop that, ’twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney.” “O, how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!” “Things Must be as they may.” “Who steals my purse steals trash.” “The ancient saying is no heresy. “Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.” “A Daniel, still I say, a second Daniel! I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.”
This little word puzzle has gone unsolved for around a hundred and fifty years or so. Who will take a crack at it? We have the time.
A Guide to the Coronavirus


newyorker--2020-03-19--Fox to Address Coronavirus Crisis with Three-Part Series on Hunter Biden

NEW YORK ( The Borowitz Report ) —Determined to address the “ No .
1 concern of the American people during the coronavirus crisis , ” Fox News Channel announced on Thursday that it would air a three-part prime-time series on Hunter Biden .
The series , to be he co-hosted by Sean Hannity , Tucker Carlson , and Rudy Giuliani , will attempt to soothe the anxieties of Fox viewers who have suddenly been plunged into uncertainty about the activities of Joe Biden ’ s son .
“ People are trapped inside their homes , they ’ re worried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they don ’ t know where to turn for accurate information about Hunter Biden , ” Hannity said .
“ We ’ re here to fill that need.
” Giuliani said that the three-part series was necessary because “ the deep state ” had limited Americans ’ access to essential Hunter Biden facts during the pandemic crisis .
“ If you go on the C.D.C .
Web site , you won ’ t find a single mention of Hunter Biden , Burisma , or CrowdStrike , ” Giuliani said .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ episode of the series , the Fox hosts will attempt to answer what Carlson called “ the most important question on our viewers ’ minds : Did Hunter Biden cause the coronavirus ?
” “ As of now , there is no evidence that Hunter Biden caused the coronavirus , ” Carlson said .
“ However , there is also no evidence that he didn ’ t cause it .
That ’ s the angle we ’ re going to be focussing on .
”

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Determined to address the “No. 1 concern of the American people during the coronavirus crisis,” Fox News Channel announced on Thursday that it would air a three-part prime-time series on Hunter Biden.
The series, to be he co-hosted by Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Rudy Giuliani, will attempt to soothe the anxieties of Fox viewers who have suddenly been plunged into uncertainty about the activities of Joe Biden’s son.
“People are trapped inside their homes, they’re worried, they’re scared, and they don’t know where to turn for accurate information about Hunter Biden,” Hannity said. “We’re here to fill that need.”
Giuliani said that the three-part series was necessary because “the deep state” had limited Americans’ access to essential Hunter Biden facts during the pandemic crisis.
“If you go on the C.D.C. Web site, you won’t find a single mention of Hunter Biden, Burisma, or CrowdStrike,” Giuliani said. “It’s a disgrace.”
In the first episode of the series, the Fox hosts will attempt to answer what Carlson called “the most important question on our viewers’ minds: Did Hunter Biden cause the coronavirus?”
“As of now, there is no evidence that Hunter Biden caused the coronavirus,” Carlson said. “However, there is also no evidence that he didn’t cause it. That’s the angle we’re going to be focussing on.”


newyorker--2020-03-19--Join Me in My Obsession with “Desert Island Discs”

The first episode of “ Desert Island Discs ” was recorded at the bomb-damaged Maida Vale Studios , in West London , on January 27 , 1942 , and aired on the BBC two days later .
It ’ s an interview show with a simple premise : each celebrity guest discusses the eight recordings that he or she would bring if cast away alone on a desert island .
The show is less concerned with logistics—in the early days , it clarified that guests would have “ a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles ” —than the trigger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the question of what you would want a song to remind you of .
Since that début episode , featuring the show ’ s creator , Roy Plomley , interviewing the Austrian-British comedian , actor , and musician Vic Oliver , there have been more than three thousand castaways .
It ’ s now one of the BBC ’ s best-known and most cherished shows , hailed by some as one of the greatest radio programs of all time .
More than two thousand episodes are available online as downloads or podcasts , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few years ago , as a way of glimpsing times other than my own .
I love hearing about the path-altering memories of others—what it was like to experience Beatlemania or Motown or punk before they were settled narratives .
At first , I was drawn to specific guests , hoping to learn more about the interiority of David Beckham ( the Stone Roses , Elton John , Sidney Bechet ) , what kind of music Zadie Smith liked ( Biggie , Prince , Madonna ) , where the cultural theorist Stuart Hall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Bob Marley— “ the sound that saved a lot of second-generation black West Indian kids from just , you know , falling through a hole in the ground ” ) .
Besides the eight songs , guests are allowed one luxury item—the Danish chef René Redzepi ( Run-D.M.C.
, WU LYF , Metallica ) asked for a day of snow—and one book other than the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare , which every castaway automatically receives .
“ I don ’ t want the Bible , ” the activist and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cornelius Cardew , Pathane Khan ) scoffed a few years ago .
“ I ’ ll have Shakespeare , ” he continued , before opting for some Balzac or Proust—a favorite among castaways .
At first , the conceit seemed to me a perfect and efficient exercise of taste .
How could you whittle down your personality to eight or ten songs ?
Could your essence be distilled to one side of a cassette ?
Some guests , like Morrissey ( Marianne Faithfull , the Velvet Underground , New York Dolls ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John McEnroe , who ratchets up his American bad-boy-isms , delight in sharing a personal canon that has become synonymous with their unruly public images .
McEnroe arrived in London for his first Wimbledon in 1977 , the summer that punk transformed the pop mainstream .
At first , he thought the punks he saw walking down the street were “ freaks , ” but then he realized that “ those are the people that rally behind me.
” Keith Richards basically spends his entire episode speaking admiringly of all the black music @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Etta James ) that the Rolling Stones adapted to their own use .
For most of the episodes , the guests ’ selections are full of inspirational highs , offering insight into why these people chose the paths that eventually brought them fame , or infamy .
Some are obvious , like Thom Yorke swooning over the Talking Heads album that rewired his brain .
The artist Jeremy Deller reaffirms the hopeful earnestness beneath his irreverent work , citing the Beach Boys ’ “ In My Room ” as his personal manifesto .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jared Diamond , the academic and author best known for “ Guns , Germs , and Steel , ” a book about the ecological roots of European expansion , passionately shares his love of German lieder .
The author Michael Lewis speculates that his wife , the former MTV host Tabitha Soren , would prefer that he get caught in a sex-tape scandal than share his fondness for Chicago or Dire Straits .
The Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is less guilt-stricken about his tastes ( Mötley Crüe , Rush , Lynyrd Skynyrd ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entranced with the format itself , the way that such longtime hosts as Sue Lawley and Kirsty Young , better versed in current affairs than pop esoterica , toggled between fun reveries and the serious stuff .
Since 2018 , the show has been hosted by the journalist , former d.j.
, and musician Lauren Laverne .
Guests usually accustomed to delivering the same old talking points drift off as a stray tune reminds them of the lean times of their youth .
In the interest of time , and as a result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the course of about forty minutes , the conversations get intense very fast , triggered as much by memory as the host ’ s probing questions .
I ’ ve been obsessively listening to old episodes the past few days .
It ’ s come to seem less like a show about music and creative inspiration than one about the possibility of loneliness .
How do you find meaning in total isolation ?
The musical selections remind you of the bonds that have made life up until now worth living .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the actor Tom Hanks ’ s jolly persona , asking about the tempestuous childhood conjured by an upbeat jazz tune .
He slowly unravels , talking about how much his well-documented niceness owes to the instability of how he grew up .
“ What have you done to me ?
” he asks , as he gently cries .
He jokes that he has put far too much thought into this list .
But who wouldn ’ t ?
Would you prefer to be reminded of where you began or where you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waiting in line for groceries , I listened to Young grill the talk-show host Jerry Springer in 2009 .
Springer talks about the radical empathy that , he says , underlies his show , which gives a platform to neo-Nazis , suburban gangster wannabes , or victims of trysts and cuckoldings that nobody really needed to know about .
He gruffly maintains that he just wants people to understand and never underestimate one another .
Young seems unconvinced that Springer is really interested in connection .
And then he offers his next song @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Hold Your Hand.
” She bursts into laughter at the sweet deliciousness of it .
When “ Desert Island Discs ” first aired , it was part of the BBC ’ s broader effort to make life during wartime slightly more bearable .
It was a way to insure that not every waking second of life was lost to worry .
The conversation was scripted and polite , and one imagines that guests were encouraged to offer selections that would make listeners feel optimistic or proud .
In those days , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ existence .
It wasn ’ t yet everywhere , soundtracking every moment of life , love , and loss .
So , meaning was quite literal , and choices tended toward an easy romanticism .
In 1951 , the actress Margaret Lockwood chose the “ Eton Boating Song.
” Her nostalgia was meant to remind listeners still digging out of wartime destruction that their past was an exceptional one .
“ It always conjures up for me a very pleasant English scene , ” she explained .
“ The River Thames in midsummer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lovely ladies in parasols and flowing white gowns , willow trees , and whiskery gentlemen in straw hats and blazers .
”

Roy Plomley’s classic BBC radio program now seems less about music and creative inspiration than about the possibility of loneliness. Photograph by John Downing / Getty
The first episode of “Desert Island Discs” was recorded at the bomb-damaged Maida Vale Studios, in West London, on January 27, 1942, and aired on the BBC two days later. It’s an interview show with a simple premise: each celebrity guest discusses the eight recordings that he or she would bring if cast away alone on a desert island. The show is less concerned with logistics—in the early days, it clarified that guests would have “a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles”—than the trigger of sound. Each guest wrestles with the question of what you would want a song to remind you of. Since that début episode, featuring the show’s creator, Roy Plomley, interviewing the Austrian-British comedian, actor, and musician Vic Oliver, there have been more than three thousand castaways. It’s now one of the BBC’s best-known and most cherished shows, hailed by some as one of the greatest radio programs of all time.
More than two thousand episodes are available online as downloads or podcasts, and I began listening to them a few years ago, as a way of glimpsing times other than my own. I love hearing about the path-altering memories of others—what it was like to experience Beatlemania or Motown or punk before they were settled narratives. At first, I was drawn to specific guests, hoping to learn more about the interiority of David Beckham (the Stone Roses, Elton John, Sidney Bechet), what kind of music Zadie Smith liked (Biggie, Prince, Madonna), where the cultural theorist Stuart Hall found inspiration (Bach, Billie Holiday, Bob Marley—“the sound that saved a lot of second-generation black West Indian kids from just, you know, falling through a hole in the ground”). Besides the eight songs, guests are allowed one luxury item—the Danish chef René Redzepi (Run-D.M.C., WU LYF, Metallica) asked for a day of snow—and one book other than the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, which every castaway automatically receives. “I don’t want the Bible,” the activist and journalist Tariq Ali (Charlie Parker, Cornelius Cardew, Pathane Khan) scoffed a few years ago. “I’ll have Shakespeare,” he continued, before opting for some Balzac or Proust—a favorite among castaways.
At first, the conceit seemed to me a perfect and efficient exercise of taste. How could you whittle down your personality to eight or ten songs? Could your essence be distilled to one side of a cassette? Some guests, like Morrissey (Marianne Faithfull, the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls), still playfully self-deprecating in 2009, or John McEnroe, who ratchets up his American bad-boy-isms, delight in sharing a personal canon that has become synonymous with their unruly public images. McEnroe arrived in London for his first Wimbledon in 1977, the summer that punk transformed the pop mainstream. At first, he thought the punks he saw walking down the street were “freaks,” but then he realized that “those are the people that rally behind me.” Keith Richards basically spends his entire episode speaking admiringly of all the black music (Chuck Berry, Aaron Neville, Etta James) that the Rolling Stones adapted to their own use.
For most of the episodes, the guests’ selections are full of inspirational highs, offering insight into why these people chose the paths that eventually brought them fame, or infamy. Some are obvious, like Thom Yorke swooning over the Talking Heads album that rewired his brain. The artist Jeremy Deller reaffirms the hopeful earnestness beneath his irreverent work, citing the Beach Boys’ “In My Room” as his personal manifesto. Some are less obvious, as when Jared Diamond, the academic and author best known for “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” a book about the ecological roots of European expansion, passionately shares his love of German lieder. The author Michael Lewis speculates that his wife, the former MTV host Tabitha Soren, would prefer that he get caught in a sex-tape scandal than share his fondness for Chicago or Dire Straits. The Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is less guilt-stricken about his tastes (Mötley Crüe, Rush, Lynyrd Skynyrd). But, eventually, I became entranced with the format itself, the way that such longtime hosts as Sue Lawley and Kirsty Young, better versed in current affairs than pop esoterica, toggled between fun reveries and the serious stuff. Since 2018, the show has been hosted by the journalist, former d.j., and musician Lauren Laverne. Guests usually accustomed to delivering the same old talking points drift off as a stray tune reminds them of the lean times of their youth. In the interest of time, and as a result of having to hit eight distinct markers over the course of about forty minutes, the conversations get intense very fast, triggered as much by memory as the host’s probing questions.
I’ve been obsessively listening to old episodes the past few days. It’s come to seem less like a show about music and creative inspiration than one about the possibility of loneliness. How do you find meaning in total isolation? The musical selections remind you of the bonds that have made life up until now worth living. In one famous episode, Young peels away at the actor Tom Hanks’s jolly persona, asking about the tempestuous childhood conjured by an upbeat jazz tune. He slowly unravels, talking about how much his well-documented niceness owes to the instability of how he grew up. “What have you done to me?” he asks, as he gently cries. He jokes that he has put far too much thought into this list. But who wouldn’t? Would you prefer to be reminded of where you began or where you ended up?
This week, while waiting in line for groceries, I listened to Young grill the talk-show host Jerry Springer in 2009. Springer talks about the radical empathy that, he says, underlies his show, which gives a platform to neo-Nazis, suburban gangster wannabes, or victims of trysts and cuckoldings that nobody really needed to know about. He gruffly maintains that he just wants people to understand and never underestimate one another. Young seems unconvinced that Springer is really interested in connection. And then he offers his next song: the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” She bursts into laughter at the sweet deliciousness of it.
When “Desert Island Discs” first aired, it was part of the BBC’s broader effort to make life during wartime slightly more bearable. It was a way to insure that not every waking second of life was lost to worry. The conversation was scripted and polite, and one imagines that guests were encouraged to offer selections that would make listeners feel optimistic or proud. In those days, there was only so much recorded music in existence. It wasn’t yet everywhere, soundtracking every moment of life, love, and loss. So, meaning was quite literal, and choices tended toward an easy romanticism. In 1951, the actress Margaret Lockwood chose the “Eton Boating Song.” Her nostalgia was meant to remind listeners still digging out of wartime destruction that their past was an exceptional one. “It always conjures up for me a very pleasant English scene,” she explained. “The River Thames in midsummer in the days before petrol launches, lovely ladies in parasols and flowing white gowns, willow trees, and whiskery gentlemen in straw hats and blazers.”
It’s strange to listen to voices from throughout the twentieth century offer fond, genteel reminiscences, like this one, and to know that they do not see what awaits them, both personally and globally. One can’t fault guests of the fifties for assuming that things could only get better. But it’s also what makes these voices so captivating to me now. As guests try to stitch together a story of themselves in eight songs, they offer glimpses of invention and survival, finding a raison d’être where others just hear a pretty tune.
Nowadays, guest responses have grown more psychological, reflecting the unpredictability of every new age. Where Plomley treated it as a show about music, it is now a show about life. There’s more of a sense that even a prominent actor, politician, or academic struggles with their mental health. Some guests, nearly destroyed by their fame, talk seriously about how the isolation of this imaginary island would be welcome. Or maybe the isolation would be absolutely unbearable after a lifetime in the public’s eye. They joke about insights gained from therapy, youthful indiscretions that now bring shame or embarrassment. Some reveal sides of their personalities at odds with their public profiles: Naomi Klein laughed and joked through her entire interview, much to the surprise of Young, who at one point remarked, “There’s a lightness to you that I think maybe people wouldn’t necessarily expect.” Recently, there was a moving episode featuring Ian Wright, a British-Jamaican soccer star for England and the London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal. He gets emotional repeatedly, sometimes in shame, because of how he had let people down when he was younger. But, other times, he giggles and weeps in pure joy, as a funky bass line reminds him of finding his wife, Nancy, and, with her, a new serenity. “Even when I’m thinking about it now, before it’s come on,” he says, before naming Mary J. Blige’s “Just Fine,” “I could imagine her dancing to it, and it makes me smile.”