Person of the week, cheers and boos

was, and hardly for the first time, the president of the United States of America. As California burned and climate change raised itself as an election issue, Donald Trump observed: "It'll start getting cooler. You just watch." Thinking that science doesn't know actually and suggesting that trees can explode, the president drew a response from his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, who called him an "arsonist". The election campaign was becoming ever more bitter, a to and fro between Trump and Biden, of whom it has been said that the best chance the Democrats have would be if they could keep Biden locked in a cupboard. And other nations think they have issues with political leaders ...

Three cheers ...

For the return of Thomas Cook. Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate which acquired the brand for eleven million pounds, relaunched Thomas Cook as an online travel agency selling "dynamic packages" based primarily on easyJet flights and accommodation from three bed banks. So, the name, with almost 180 years of history was back. Something to cheer, except that not everyone was, such as former employees and suppliers. Because of the bankruptcy, almost a year to the day, some analysts wondered if the revived brand will inspire consumer trust. One said: "The name and its recent history will not help."

A big boo ...

For the positive cases of coronavirus at care homes. It's not as if it isn't acknowledged that care home residents (and workers) are particularly vulnerable, yet how can it have been that chance has played a part in detecting outbreaks? This has been the case in both Sant Joan and Soller, where first positive tests were from residents who needed to be admitted to hospital for reasons other than Covid. In addition, there have to be questions as to how such high transmission rates can occur, when there is the knowledge of care home vulnerability that there wasn't at the start of the pandemic.