Canthe Crisishelp Usfixit?

JUNE 13/14 2020 We have a Canthe technology crisis help problem us fix it? By TimHarford @FTMag 5 Simon Kuper Whythe US risksanewepidemic of violence 6 Inventory Oyinkan Braithwaite,author 8 Tech World Robostrop: is it OK to terminate amenacing android? 10 Robert Shrimsley The it-will-do-for-nowGreat British haircut 10 Letters 12 Canthe pandemic revitaliseinnovation? Incentivise invention,takeadvantage of catastrophe and neverforgetthe simple KEY solution: the historyoftechnology has OS much to teach us about howtofightour MCCL current crisis. TimHarford reports RICK 20 Thereinvention of Ed Miliband ‘Gas wascheap,timesweregreat and the boulevard The former Labour leader is back on his hummed with lifeduring the evenings’ party’sfront bench –older,wiser butas convinced as ever that capitalism needs to Rick McCloskey on California car culture, p30 change.Can he makeanimpact? He speaks to George Parker and Jim Pickard 26 Observations: the greatdebaters Novelists Sally Rooneyand Ben Lerner both emerged from the arena of competitive debating –ashave many of our politicians. But, asks LouStoppard,how doestheir training shape the world we livein? 30 VanNuysnights In the early 1970s, VanNuys Boulevard in an LA suburb wasthe place to hang out and show off your ride. RickMcCloskey’s photographs capture the spirit of anewly mobile generation 34 Bunker Food Chef Judy Joo recalls making Hugh Hefner’s favourite dish 37 Jancis Robinson California’snew-wave wines 39 Fantasydinner parties Isabel Berwick devisesher perfect picnic 40 Honey&Co Three Italianrecipesthatrecreate a perfect afternoon in abusytrattoria near Florence’s Ponte Vecchio ‘The publicdiscovered 45 Games Ihad apersonality’ 46 ElaineMoore Lessons from lockdown: we all Ed Miliband, p20 need some face-to-face time Issue number 874•Online ft.com/magazine•Editorial inquiries020 7873 3282 •Advertisinginquiries020 7873 3121 •FTWeekend Magazine is printed by the Walstead Group ‘The asparagus starter in the UK and published by The Financial TimesLtd, Bracken House,1Friday Street, London EC4M 9BT wassotender youcould ©The FinancialTimesLtd 2020 •Nopartofthismagazine maybereproduced in anyform without theprior express eatitwith aspoon’ permission of the publisher Honey&Co on recreating restaurant memories, p40 Coverillustration by Vanessa Branchi FT.COM/MAGAZINE JUNE 13/142020 3 iolencespreadslikeavirus.Ifsome- theyare effectivelylicensedtokill –especially, it onewithCovid-19coughsnearyou, seems,ifthe victims areAfrican-American. the disease can enter your lungs. Slutkin doesn’tpropose abolishing the police And if someone commits violence force. He just favours shrinking it.Evenliberal against you, or in your presence, NewYork Citypours $6bn ayear of taxpayer violent tendenciescan enter your dollars into its police department,“morethan… brain. That’swhy violence, likea on health, homelessness,youth development virus,often appears in clusters. and workforce development combined”,says One killing generatesothers,just the NGOPublic Citizen. YetUSpolice officers are as one person with Covid-19 can constantlydealingwithpeopleafflictedbymental start achain of infections.The best health problems,homelessness,drug addictions V waytostop contagion is to inter- or poverty so extreme theycan’t paya$50 fine. rupt it early: trace, isolate and prevent spread. That was Gary Slutkin’s insight when he returnedtothe US in 1995 after 10 years in ‘US policedeal with people Africa combating tuberculosis,cholera and Aids. afflictedbyaseries of problems. The epidemiologist and doctor nowleadsCure SIMON ViolenceGlobal,anNGO. CVGemploys “violence Theywalk in like untrained interrupters”who find people at risk of commit- social workerswithguns’ ting violence and deter them beforetheyact. Its work has sharplyreducedviolence in parts of NewYork, Baltimore, Mexico,Honduras and Police walk into these situations likeuntrained elsewhere, according to evaluations by Johns social workers with guns.Public health experts KUPER Hopkins University,John JayCollege, Arizona and criminologists have beensaying this for dec- State University and others. ades, with almost no impactonpolitical debate OPENING SHOT If violence is contagious,then certain conclu- –until, perhaps,now. sionsfollow. First,police arriving afterviolence US streets,TVand incendiary social media happens aren’t much use. In fact, theyoften haverecentlybeensaturatedwithviolence.Police Whythe US spread violence, by introducing their own. attack protesters with pepper spray, tear gas and Second, anew nationwide epidemic of violence batons,while aminority of protesterscommits risks anew nowthreatens an armedand dividedUS. violence too. The national soundtrack is Trump, Slutkin arguesthat contagion operatesinall talking like asuper-spreaderofviolence:“When epidemic types of violence, whether gang,domestic, polit- thelooting starts,the shooting starts.” ical or mass shootings. “If youhaveexperienced Making things worse is the epidemic of mis- violence,youaredozenstohundredsoftimesmore informationthataccompaniesmost epidemics of violence likelytodoit,”hesays.The risk is dose-depend- (including Covid-19). Forinstance, the White ent: “Your likelihood of doing violence depends House’s Twitter account shared avideomontage on your amount of exposuretoit.”Sometimes of pilesofbricks stashedonstreets,supposedly violence is instantlyinfectious: one mangets prepared for protesters by Antifa and “profes- killed, and his friends kill the killer.Sometimes sional anarchists”. In fact, the bricks (many of violence infectsovergenerations: afather beats thematconstructionsites)predatedtheprotests. his son, who later beats his own. Poverty helps Slutkin has worked in enough fragile countries breed violence, as it does Covid. However,social to seepredictors of violence in the US: elitesare circumstancesaren’tdeterminant,says Slutkin. divided,whilemanypeople’s health,incomesand The main cause of violence is violence. status have declined. He says these factors breed It often originatesinpetty,resolvable disputes: violence just as dirty water breedsdisease. one man flirts with another’sgirlfriend, oweshim Then thereare the upcoming US elections. moneyordisrespects him. CVG’sinterrupters – Electoral violence is often ethnic, as in Kenya many of them ex-gang members who knowtheir in 2007-08. Trump was elected president stig- neighbourhoods–sniff out these quarrels.They matising Hispanics and Muslims.This time, his visit the wrongedman in hospital if he’s beenshot scapegoats might be African-Americans or the and spend hours talking him out of violence, per- Chinese. “It’salso very rarethat the Jews aren’t in haps finding him job training or drug treatment. the blame mix,”adds Slutkin. Sometimesthey’ll be summonedbyamother Theremay benothingtoworryabout.Perhaps worriedthat her son is loading guns in the cellar. the armedprotesters who occupiedMichigan The interruptersalso train people to change statehouselastmonthwon’treappear.Everything their behaviour.This is something public health could go swimminglyinNovember.IfTrump does well, says Slutkin:wear amask, wear a loses, hemaygraciouslyhandpowertoJoeBiden. condom, learn to get overaquarrel instead of However,CVG is preparing for trouble. It is train- letting it escalate. ing ordinary citizens nationwide as violence Police in the US often actasspreaders of vio- interrupters.We’ve learnt this year that it’sbest lence. No wonder,because theyare exposedtoit to catch epidemics early. daily. Itmayalsobethatpeopleinfectedbyviolence while young areattractedtoaprofession in which [email protected] @KuperSimon FT.COM/MAGAZINE JUNE 13/142020 ILLUSTRATION BY HARRYHAYSOM 5 Oyinkan Braithwaite, 32, wonthe What’syour biggest extravagance? 2019 AnthonyAward forbestfirst Laptop,iPadand phone.Other than novelfor My Sister,the SerialKiller, that,the costs add up for my books, whichwas also shortlistedfor the clothing and all things art-related. Women’s Prize for Fictionand In what place areyou happiest? longlisted for the BookerPrize. My room. On my bed. What ambitions do youstillhave? What wasyour childhood Iwould liketocreate an animated or earliest ambition? series. Iwould alsoliketowrite In primaryschool,wewereasked more books andput together afew what we wantedtobewhenwegrew encyclopedias.Thereissomuch up.Iwrote thatIwantedtobean about Nigeriathat Idon’t know–for author and an interior designer,and example,wehavesomanytribes also work part-time in Toys RUs. hereand Iamonlyfamiliarwith a Privateschool or stateschool? handful of them. But it is difficult Universityorstraight intowork? to find information on the subject Iwent to three primaryschools that is easy to digest; so Ifigured andthree secondary schools,some creating encyclopediaswould be a were private, some state. Ichanged waytoeducate myself and make the schools so muchbecause my family informationaccessible. andImovedbetweenNigeriaand What drives youon? England. In the English schools, The desiretobebetter than I Iwas awallflower for the most part. was yesterday. In the Nigerianschools,thoughI What is the greatest achievement wasstill thequiet girl who liked to of your life so far? read, Istood out more. Iwas even Basedonsuccess, My Sister, theSerial appointed social prefect, which Killer.But Ithink in reality, it would no one could makehead nor tail have beenthe first novelthat Iwas of.But thatwas the least of the able to complete.And, perhaps in differences. The facilities,teaching 2018,when my sister and Iwere styles, disciplinary measures – privileged to teachkids howtoread. sometimes Ifeelasthough Ihave

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