World Cup: They Said It Would Be All Over by Xmas – And It Was! (11.12.2022) 

England gave away the first half against France last night (and effectively conceded this quarterfinal game) – whilst dominating and ‘exposing’ France throughout the second half! The psychological effect of the French first goal finished the match – such was the devastating and forceful ease (elan) with which it was scored! Everything after this point of the game was a footnote. I know this because I have witnessed this England self-destruct mechanism in action over many, many decades and am now an old hand at assessing this form of spherical self-flagellation! The tragedy is that for much of the game England were by far the better side – but having just watched Morrocco make history by becoming the first ‘African’ nation to make it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup (although not many ‘Black’ Africans are celebrating the progression of a population of Arab invaders occupying an ‘African’ country) – it was odd to see Morrocco fans supporting France! The former ‘colonised’ supporting their ‘colonisers’! If England had scored the numerous chances the players earned (and not ‘missed’ a crucial penalty) – England would now be playing Morrocco in the semi-finals! But then again, the same weaknesses in the English game would still exist and I would probably be sat at this laptop knocking-out a similar article of failure and despair in just a few days’ time – as a jubilant Morrocco march on to the final – probably with Argentina! 

Covid-19: Chinese Logic Trumps Western Racism! (11.12.2022)

In the past three years, China has equipped itself with technologies and drugs that are proven to be effective in COVID diagnosis and treatment, and also made continuous progress in pathogen detection and epidemiological investigations. Over 90 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated thanks to China’s unceasing efforts in vaccine research and development, while people’s health awareness has also been greatly enhanced.

These aggregated factors have laid a solid foundation for the current epidemic prevention and control work, and provided the precondition for further optimizations.

It is worth noting that China’s fine-tuning of its COVID policy is proactive rather than passive. While advancing the latest optimization plan, China does not shy away from acknowledging the challenges, and is determined to ramp up vaccination efforts among the elderly and increase the capacity of intensive care units (ICU).

Different countries have different national conditions in terms of medical resources and demographic situations, and differ in sociocultural orientation. As the world stands at a crossroads and humanity is faced with COVID-19 as a common enemy, we need to focus on mutual understanding and cooperation, and must let go of ego and bias.