Michael Baum

It occurs to me that one of the most important lessons we’ve learnt so far during this time of plague is that the majority of the glitterati, TV journalists and armchair epidemiologists on Twitter, are all scientifically illiterate. This is not a new phenomenon. One of my most precious possessions is a copy of CP

I was inspired to write this piece by a chart made by the historian James Barr. It showed, in the style of the Financial Times’ graphs of coronavirus cases and fatalities in different countries, a comparison of ‘Apples, Pears and Rhubarb’. What was meant as satire perfectly summed up why it is so unwise to