Optics

Six weeks on, the daily death rate across the world from the coronal plague has finally fallen back below the level of its first peak, back in May last year.

But to my eye, it did not look like that. My eye said that it was still running above that level. Had I caught the FT out for once? Inserting the graphic into Powerpoint and superimposing a suitable rectangle demonstrated that I had not: the eye was wrong and the FT was right.

So things are getting better. With the current blackspots being the US and the rest of Europe, that is to say the former Soviet block. Regions which share a visceral distrust of government. Distrust which takes a long time to pull back to trust, so Tories beware: too much lying damages the fabric and repairs can be expensive.

PS: and while we are with the FT, Saturday brought a very flashily illustrated article about the additional or enhanced senses of certain animals, for example those of the shrimp called Tyson. From the Great Yarmouth of Wonka fame. See references 3 and 4.

References 

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/new-graphic.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=FT+graphic. A bit of a mixed bag, but it probably includes most of these particular FT graphics.

Reference 3: What the platypus could tell us about climate change: the COP26 delegates would do well to look at the world from the perspective of animals- Jackie Higgins\FT - 2021.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/10/wonked.html.

Group search key: FT, graphic.