Zero-to-some game: Asia-Pacific covid-19 plans crack
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2021
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Where governments enacted zero-tolerance coronavirus strategies, numbers indeed stayed low. That was before the Delta variant. We ask how countries can now wind back those policies. A shocking report of sexual abuse within France’s Catholic church further threatens the institution’s connection with society. And countering the notion that the “standard English” taught the world over is the only proper one.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:06.7 | I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:08.6 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:17.1 | The results of France's inquiry into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are chilling. |
| 0:23.4 | More than 200,000 children were abused over 70 years, crimes aided by a culture of concealment. |
| 0:30.8 | We ask about the future of the church in France. |
| 0:35.6 | And in the English-speaking world, newsreaders and podcast hosts tend to use a particular dialect, what's called standard English. |
| 0:44.3 | Students everywhere are taught it's the only proper one, but that is a matter of class and power, not one of grammar. |
| 0:52.3 | First up though, and power, not one of grammar. |
| 0:57.0 | First up, though. |
| 1:08.0 | At midnight local time today, Sydney began to open up after four months of lockdown. Guys, our lockdown ends in six minutes and I just got to Kmart because they're opening at midnight, |
| 1:13.6 | and you should see how many people are here. |
| 1:15.6 | It's crazy. |
| 1:16.6 | Pubs and supermarkets throughout the Australian city kept some unusual hours to catch the midnight trade. |
| 1:22.6 | For many in Europe and America, lockdowns already seem like a thing of the past. |
| 1:30.3 | But in the Asia-Pacific region, they've remained central in the fight against COVID. |
| 1:35.3 | Australia, China, Taiwan, New Zealand, all have maintained a zero-COVID approach to keep case numbers to a minimum. |
| 1:43.3 | In the pandemic's first year, Taiwan officially |
| 1:45.6 | counted just a dozen deaths from COVID-19. New Zealand, just 27. By that measure, these policies |
| 1:52.6 | have been a success, but they were never going to be sustainable. In much of the world, |
| 1:57.8 | they had no choice COVID was circulating. They had to cope with it. |
| 2:01.6 | Edward Carr is the economist's deputy editor and oversees our COVID coverage. |
... |
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