“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. --Aristotle”
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Rich vs. poor
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Cervical
cancer is among the most preventable forms of the disease, and European
countries are embracing one of the key tools in a big way. The U.K., Ireland
and Germany have all announced plans in recent months to expand the vaccine
against the human papillomavirus to boys, going beyond the key target of
girls aged 9 to 14. The problem: That could come at the expense of poor
countries just trying to do the basics.
HPV
is the sole cause of cervical cancer, and most adults will be exposed at some
point in their lives if they’re sexually active. The World Health
Organization says vaccinating around 80 percent of girls is key to creating
“herd immunity” against HPV, which means even those unvaccinated would be
protected. But in a bid to protect boys from anal and oral cancers, there’s a
movement in Europe to roll out gender-neutral HPV immunizations.
That
could help protect people in those wealthy countries, but it might threaten
the limited supply of vaccines to the young girls who need it most in poor
countries — where HPV is more prevalent and early screening is harder to
scale up. “Looking at the current supply-demand situation, if globally we
would like to make more progress, it would be better if the available
vaccines at the moment would be used to vaccinate girls,” Anshu Banerjee,
director of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health at the WHO, told
me in
an interview.
[POLITICO Global Policy Lab,
October 11, 2018]
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| POLITICS |
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| NATURE & OUTDOORS |
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| HIDDEN IN THE ATTIC |
On
November 8, 1864, while the nation was still embroiled in a great Civil War,
more than 4 million Americans came together in cities, towns, villages—and even
army camps—to cast their votes for the next president of the United States.
Seeking
re-election, President Abraham Lincoln faced off against his former
general-in-chief, George B. McClellan. While Lincoln was committed to the
preservation of the Union and the extirpation of slavery from the United
States, McClellan’s supporters were open to forging a peace with the South that
would permanently divide the nation and allow slavery to survive.
As easy as it is in 2017 to take Lincoln’s re-election victory
for granted, we must remember that things looked far less certain in 1864. The
American people did not know what would happen at the polls. What they did know
was that the very fate of the Union rested in their hands. [Civil War Trust, November 6, 2017]
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| EDUCATION |
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| SCREEN |
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| PUTIN |
LAUGHING AT PUTIN: Almost every single newspaper splashes on the latest
bungled Russian spy operation this morning, and that sound you can hear is the
world laughing at Vladimir Putin. This is actually a serious business, of
course, not least given fears the Russian president will try to lash out again
to save face. But that doesn’t stop the open mockery in almost every paper of
the once-proud Russian intelligence service. The Sun mocks the latest failed
spy ring as “The Novichokle brothers,” with one hapless goon saying: “To me …
to GRU.” The ‘i’ splashes with “Carry On Spying.” The Metro goes with
“Novichumps.” The Telegraph front page brands it a “humiliation for Putin.” He
ain’t gonna be happy. [POLITICO London Playbook, October 5, 2018]
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| READ |
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| NIGERIA |
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| GREAT BRITAIN |
WELFARE COSTS: The rollout of universal credit, the government’s flagship
welfare reform, is fast emerging as a major political problem. The
Observer reports that some 2.8
million homes will see their income cut when the new benefit system goes
nationwide next year. That’s a lot of voters.
What’s going on? Universal credit combines several benefits into a
single payment and aims to ensure there is always an incentive to work built
into the system. As the paper reports, the benefit has already been rolled
out in some areas, but “a crunch is due to come next year when millions are
moved from the current system to the new programme.” On Marr, Thornberry launched
a furious attack on the government. “We must not come out of austerity on the
backs of the poor,” she said. “It’s wrong. It’s fundamentally wrong.”
Money, money, money: You can tell the project is in
trouble when Iain Duncan Smith — its architect — is on the TV calling for a
change of course from the government. On Marr, he called on the government to
stop raising the point at which people start paying tax (which does not benefit
the poorest who don’t pay tax anyway) and give the money to the poorest through
universal credit, ensuring there are no cuts in what people actually receive
when they are moved onto the new system. “The structure works, you need to put
the money in,” he said. Watch.
Change coming: On Sky, Tory chairman James Cleverly hinted that action
would be taken in the budget on October 29. “Universal credit needs to be well
resourced,” he told presenter Sophy Ridge. “We need to make it work.” [POLITICO Sunday Crunch, October 14, 2018]
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| GRENADA |
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