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h systems becoming overwhelmed with corpses piled up in hospital corridors. Other UN experts said there could be 1.2bn cases and 3.3m deaths without emergency interventions, while more optimistic modelling from the influential experts at Imperial College, London, anticipated 300,000 deaths.

Little wonder countries on the continent rushed to follow the lead of rich nations such as Italy and Spain that were visibly struggling to cope with pandemic. Many closed borders, shut businesses and locked down citizens. Among the firmest responses was Uganda’s, where public transport was suspended, schools shut down, shops closed, curfews imposed and big gatherings banned. Kampala has conducted more than 350,000 tests, according to official data. After doom-laden warnings of 68,000 fatalities from the virus if there were failure to act, there have been 44 confirmed coronavirus deaths in this east African nation of 43m.

Such actions won praise from global health bodies. Yet were blunt lockdowns really the right approach in Africa? A growing body of doctors, economists and scientists fear these measures will have disastrous consequences. These experts warn of financial carnage, spiralling epidemics of other diseases, the intensification of gender and wealth inequalities and the battle against poverty being set back by decades. They point to Africa’s youth, with a median age of 18 years compared with 41 years in Europe, and few people in the highest-risk older categories — which may help explain why a continent of 1.3bn people has seen fewer confirmed virus deaths than the UK. Almost one in five Britons is aged 65 or over; in Africa, it is fewer than one in 50. Yet the impact of shutting down countries will be far worse than in wealthier developed nations.

David Bell, a malaria specialist who has worked with both Bill Gates and the WHO, is among those concerned that we may be witnessing catastrophe unfolding on the continent. “It seems global health authorities did not think through the collateral damage, yet we knew by March the age-related fatality levels of this virus. If you looked at Italy or China, it was old people who were dying. In developing nations, many people live day to day, so even short disruption can be devastating to lives, while there are already large epidemics of malaria, tuberculosis and HiV that will only get worse if you reduce access and healthcare for a few months.”

In contrast to Uganda's strict approach, Malawi – for a variety of reasons – failed to impose a lockdown. 

Predictive modelling warned that inaction would lead to 16 million infections, 483,000 hospitalisations and 50,000 fatalities in this southern African nation of 19m people — yet there have been just 176 confirmed deaths to date.

Worth reading in full. Birrell's conclusion:

This discussion over lockdown in Africa is a microcosm of the wider global debate over how to balance the handling of a deadly new disease with wider health, commercial and social issues. But it is multiplied many times over since coronavirus fatality rates are so much lower than in developed nations while the impact so much more profound. “Lockdowns are the wrong policy not just for Africa, but for almost all low income countries,” said Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital and author of a book on Africa’s renaissance. I fear he is right. The more you look at the data, the harder it is to avoid the conclusions that the instant panicked response on the continent was a mistake — and one that may have the most hideous long-term consequences.

Dion and the Belmonts on the Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show, May 1958:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe-EfpIzdsw&w=550&h=309]

Italian-style doo-wop from da Bronx. This was the group's breakthrough hit, and it's not hard to see why Dion is the main man here. Whatever the respective talents of the group – and they're all fine singers – the rest of them are a pretty rough-looking crew. Dion, though – Dion DiMucci – has the clean good looks to make it the top. Which he did, ditching the others and hitting the big time with songs like The Wanderer and Runaround Sue. In fact he was one of the biggest stars of that late Fifties – early Sixties period when smooth young Italian-Americans like Fabian and Frankie Avalon became teen heart-throbs, before the British Invasion blew it all away.

There was always more to Dion, though. He just kept on going, and his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 was preceded by a moving introduction from Lou Reed of all people – the guiding light of hip New York music.

And let's not forget the Phil Spector-produced masterpiece from 1975, Born To Be With You.

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[Photos © Anastasia Dubrava]

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ht restrictions, the infection rate has also risen much higher than the rate in Sweden.

Denmark and Norway have also largely reopened their borders to Swedes, although some quarantine measures have been put back in place as coronavirus has flared up again in Norway.

At the start of the pandemic the authorities in Stockholm reasoned that the disease would be a long-term challenge and that it would be better to allow the population to develop immunity to it while trying to protect those most at risk.

The government advised people to work from home where they could but left most of the country open, including bars, restaurants and schools for all except the oldest pupils.

It also declined to recommend the use of masks in shops or on trains and buses, although it requires people to keep at least 1.5m apart in public.

In the early months many critics argued that this approach was recklessly laissez-faire.

Some scientists predicted that as many as 180,000 people could die in a country of 10.2 million.

Those estimates proved to be drastically overblown: up to now there have been 5,838 Covid-19 deaths. In per capita terms this is the fifth highest death rate in Europe, behind only Belgium, the UK, Spain and Italy, but it has also fallen substantially since the summer. Only seven people died with the disease in the past week.

-left: 40px”>A New York Times best-selling author and a literary agent’s assistant are the two latest scalps claimed in the war being waged against women on Twitter by trans-activists.

Author Gillian Philip, who was part of a team of writers of hugely successful animal fantasy novels for children under the name Erin Hunter, was sacked following a Twitter pile-on when she Tweeted her support for JK Rowling.

In the 24 hours after adding #IStandWithJKRowling to her Twitter handle, the Scots author received hundreds of abusive messages, including threats of death, sexual violence and images of guns. “I’m going to punch u in the throat,” declared one.

Instead of leaping to her defence, Philip’s employer Working Partners sacked her. Philip writes in the Daily Mail that she was told by managing director Chris Snowden: “HarperCollins say you’re out. They don’t want you involved in any of the books and don’t want your name on any of the books.”  [..]

Meanwhile, in New York, an assistant at The Tobias Literary Agency, Sasha White, has been fired after retweeting “TW [trans women] being vulnerable to male violence does not make you women”. White’s Twitter account bio reads: “gender non conformity is wonderful; denying biological sex not so”. 

The agency’s Twitter account, which has since been made private, stated: “We do not have any room for anti-Trans sentiments at TLA. Period. Thus we have parted ways with Sasha.” 

There follows a useful list of other women who've suffered similarly for expressing gender-critical views – though it could be clearer:

Maya Forstater: the tax expert’s contract was not renewed at think tank Centre for Global Studies after she tweeted that: ‘being a woman / female is a matter of identity or womanly feelings’ rather than one of biology. 

Forstater, of course, is stating there the view she's opposed to, not what she herself thinks.

Update: they've now changed the Maya Forstater entry:

[T]he tax expert’s contract was not renewed at think tank Centre for Global Studies after she tweeted: “I think that male people are not women. I don't think being a woman/female is a matter of identity or womanly feelings. It is biology.” 

Back to the Pittsburgh area, with John Vachon:

June 1941. "Railroad yards. Carnegie-Illinois steel plant. Etna, Pennsylvania." [Photo: Shorpy/John Vachon]

And Arthur Rothstein:

July 1938. "Workers' homes with steel plant along Monongahela River in background. Clairton, Pennsylvania." [Photo: Shorpy/Arthur Rothstein]

July 1938. "Slums near steel mill. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."

From North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun:

Kim Jong Il Prize was awarded to "General Kim Jong Il, the Sun of Songun", a collection of revolutionary anecdotes, by the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The collection is a monumental national treasure which made a great contribution to encouraging the grand revolutionary advance of the DPRK people who are waging a dynamic struggle for glorifying the precious revolutionary career and undying revolutionary feats of Chairman Kim Jong Il for all ages, building a powerful socialist country and accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche under the guidance of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

The Kim Jong Il Prize won by, um, Kim Jong Il? Well yes, I suppose it does make some kind of sense.

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Tippi, Boxer / Bulldog Mix. Architect: William Krisel, 1956 © Nancy Baron

Brick, Boston Terrier. Architect: William Krisel, 1956 © Nancy Baron

Mingus Shpall, Australian Shepherd / Catahoula Leopard Rescue. Architects: Albert Frey and Robson Chambers, 1964 © Nancy Baron

Arthur, Miniature Dachshund. Architect: Donald Wexler, 1960 © Nancy Baron

Abbey, English Setter. Developer: Paul Trousdale, 1948 © Nancy Baron

Yes, there is a book, Palm Springs Modern Dogs at Home, out here in November, and perfect for your coffee table.

Of course it's most unlikely that your dreary coffee table will have the same elegance and class as the coffee tables shown here, but one can dream…