Having been quarantined at his parents’ house in the Hebei province in northern China for a month, Elvis Liu arrived back home in Hong Kong on February 23rd. Border officials told him to add their office’s number to his WhatsApp contacts and to fix the app’s location-sharing setting to “always on”, which would let them see where his phone was at all times. They then told him to get home within two hours, close the door and stay there for two weeks. His next fortnight was punctuated, every eight hours, with the need to reactivate that always-on location sharing; Facebook,…

It is said that in a crisis everybody becomes a socialist; free markets take a back seat, to the benefit of the working people. During the second world war for instance, when universal rationing was introduced in Britain, the average worker became better nourished than before. Likewise, private companies get commandeered to produce goods for the war effort, thus introducing de facto planning. Something of the sort is happening today under the impact of the pandemic. In country after country there is a socialization of healthcare and of production of some essential goods, which markedly departs from the capitalist norm;…

With the world-wide coronavirus pandemic, no one could predict when the University of Lagos would be opportune to hold its convocation again. The 2019 Convocation was supposed to hold between March 9 and 13 until its Pro-Chancellor, Mr Wale Babalakin, an old student of UNILAG, protested and Minister of Education upheld his prayer asking that the ceremony be put on hold. Despite entreaties from top academics and other stakeholders, the convocation remain suspended. It was the latest in the ongoing war of attrition between Babalakin and the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Oluwatoyin Ogundipe. UNILAG is one of Africa’s leading universities. In normal…

Far from making Americans crave stability, the pandemic underscores how everything is up for grabs. Fear sweeps the land. Many businesses collapse. Some huge fortunes are made. Panicked consumers stockpile paper, food, and weapons. The government’s reaction is inconsistent and ineffectual. Ordinary commerce grinds to a halt; investors can find no safe assets. Political factionalism grows more intense. Everything falls apart. This was all as true of revolutionary France in 1789 and 1790 as it is of the United States today. Are we at the beginning of a revolution that has yet to be named? Do we want to be?…