Prior to the cancellation of the Leaving Cert exams, a clear and unmistakeable picture of the educational inequalities that continue to exist within our state were brought sharply into focus. The geographical disparities in terms of broadband access and the resource inequalities that thousands of students endure have been laid bare. Some schools had the […]
Over the next few years the working-age population will decline dramatically The demographic winter continues in East Asia. As well as Japan, the other democratic, Western-leaning allies in the region are all facing similar issues: very low fertility rates, low or negative natural population growth and rapidly ageing populations. China is also grappling with these problems, […]
A new study published by researchers in the US warns that COVID-19 could lead to an unprecedented increase in ‘deaths of despair’ — a term used to describe deaths due to drug or alcohol abuse and suicide. The new report, from the Well Being Trust and researchers affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians, estimates […]
Statistical evidence has played a central role in our society’s response to Covid-19. We gather and publish data on so many aspects of this epidemic – the number of deaths, the number of cases, the number of tests, the number of intensive care units available, the recovery rates among hospital admissions, the number of clusters […]
While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, the Italian government has announced that celebrations in churches will resume from May 18th. After a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives, this week the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by […]
Chinese propaganda has launched an international offensive of fake news to counter “enormous evidence” that the virus came from a Wuhan laboratory. On March 17, 2020, Bitter Winter told the story of how a paper on the virus responsible for COVID-19 by two respected Chinese scientists, Dr. Botao Xiao from South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, and Dr. […]
Both countries and companies have taken advantage of the misery of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdowns, the loneliness and the misery of millions to burnish their image. China has donated masks and ventilators; companies have offered free stuff like online yoga lessons, audiobooks, museum tours, movies and software. Great PR! But the most audacious offering […]
Mary Shelley is famous for one novel – her first, Frankenstein (1819). Its extraordinary career in adaptation began almost from the point of publication, and it has had a long afterlife as a keyword in our culture. Frankenstein speaks to us now in our fears of scientific overreach, our difficulties in recognising our shared humanity. But her […]
There is an interesting European collaborative mortality monitoring activity among 24 European countries called Euromomo (website: euromomo.eu). They collate and analyse weekly mortality statistics which are published on their website. The project has weekly mortality data since the beginning of 2016 and the mortality statistics are published below for the full period data is available. […]
Back in the far-off days of pre-lockdown the mantra that was repeated to us in order to secure our compliance in one of the biggest voluntary surrenders of civil liberties in history was “flatten the curve”. The idea behind it was that we need to ensure that the infection spreads more slowly than it would […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the best and the worst in us; it has also shone a light on our contradictions. Coming up with a vaccine may be the solution; but that’s still several months away, too long to wait out in a lockdown as many countries have been for almost two months now, with […]
A month and a half ago I wrote that Ireland was not getting to zero anytime soon and that the exit strategy for the coronavirus pandemic in Ireland was not clear at all. Despite the government announcing a Roadmap for reopening society and business, and many hailing it is a providing light at the end […]