Worthwhile reading from other sites – 2020

A new year and a new decade…this year’s stories look like being focused upon the US presidential elections, Britain’s departure from the EU, the potential for conflict between the USA and both Iran and North Korea and of course the rise of China and the continuing protests in Hong Kong….

And the small matter of a global pandemic…

December 2020

Trump’s Fraud Claims Died in Court, but the Myth of Stolen Elections Lives On New York Times

UK–EU future relationship: the deal Institute for Government – UK

Bust-ups and brinkmanship: inside story of how the Brexit deal was done Guardian

A Farewell to the Hong Kong I Loved Matthew Brooker for Bloomberg

World’s media ask how it went so wrong for ‘Plague Island’ Britain Guardian

The best photographs of 2020 – and the stories behind them Guardian

The Essex Lorry Tragedy and the Narrative of Migration  New Naratif

India’s day-nightmare Jarrod Kimber

‘Christmas cancelled’: what the papers say as UK Covid bubbles burst Guardian

‘I lost all sense of perspective!’ The broadcaster whose dogs became superstars Guardian

How Sweden is being forced to abandon its failing Covid-19 strategy New Statesman

‘A peculiarly English epic’: the weird genius of The Archers Guardian

Origin story: what do we know now about where coronavirus came from? Guardian

How Boris Johnson destroyed the UK’s global standing The New European

John le Carré obituary Guardian

Brexit talks: what are the ‘major unresolved topics’ UK and EU must agree on? Guardian

Dennis Amato on Chainat, Youth Development and his Future in Thailand Thai League Central

Explainer: The potential impact of Brexit without a trade deal Reuters

Taiwan’s Turn Reuters

One country, one picture, one year Reuters

China testing blunders stemmed from secret deals with firms AP

November 2020

China’s Clampdown on Hong Kong NY Books

Thailand on the brink at the worst possible moment Nikkei Asia

A year after Wuhan alarm, China seeks to change Covid origin story Guardian

The Real Meaning of Trump’s Post-Election Defiance Foreign Policy

Thailand’s political convulsions are far from spontaneous Nikkei Asia

A Promised Land by Barack Obama review – behind the power and the pomp

How a handful of scientists developed Oxford vaccine at breakneck speed Guardian

Why Republican voters say there’s ‘no way in hell’ Trump lost Reuters

Mail on Sunday v Marcus Rashford: a sinister attack on a young black man Guardian

Ray Clemence obituary Guardian

No, not that Four Seasons. How Team Trump’s news conference ended up at a Northeast Philly landscaping firm. The Philadelphia Inquirer

Inside Thailand’s youth revolution FT

Smelly, noisy and awash with dead skin cells: life on board the International Space Station Guardian

THAI Airways plans special merit-making flight Thai PBS

Dishonesty Has Defined the Trump Presidency. The Consequences Could Be Lasting. NYT

This Might Be the Most ‘West Wing’ Election of Our Lives NYT

October 2020

Sheikh Khalifa’s £5bn London property empire Guardian

The future of Thailand hangs in the balance Bangkok Post

CURRY, ICED COFFEE, CIA: A GUIDE TO THAI PROTEST VOCAB Khaosod English

END OUR NATIONAL CRISIS The Case Against Donald Trump NYT editorial board

Turning point in Thailand: Queen’s brush with protest Reuters

Xi Jinping sets his sights on Taiwan against a backdrop of American decline in the Pacific Reaction

The young protesters taking on the monarchy are changing Thailand for ever Guardian

Dreams of a Red Emperor: The relentless rise of Xi Jinping LA Times

What Did You Expect? Trump should never have been allowed anywhere near any public office. The Atlantic

The anti-lockdown scientists’ cause would be more persuasive if it weren’t so half-baked Guardian

The Law Ought to Be King Boston Review

‘He was murdered to silence him’: a shocking film on Jamal Khashoggi Guardian

After Hong Kong: China sets sights on solving ‘the Taiwan problem’ Guardian

‘In my dreams I’m there’: the exodus from Hong Kong Guardian

Who runs Hong Kong: party faithful shipped in to carry out Beijing’s will

September 2020

Inside the airline industry’s meltdown Guardian

Harold Evans taught us what journalism at its best can achieve Guardian

Anwar Ibrahim: A long-held dream to lead Malaysia BBC

Young Women Take a Frontline Role in Thailand’s Protests NY Times

Thai republican hashtag trends after constitution change delayed Reuters

How Conspiracy Theories Are Shaping the 2020 Election—and Shaking the Foundation of American Democracy Time

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ The Atlantic

How My Mother and I Became Chinese Propaganda New Yorker

In tell-all book, Michael Cohen says Trump hired a ‘Faux-Bama’ during White House run CNN

The danger is now clear: Trump is destroying democracy in broad daylight Guardian

August 2020

The miseducation of King Rama X Sydney Morning Herald

Thailand: youthful protesters break the kingdom’s biggest political taboo FT

The evolution of Jimmy Anderson: skittish, then broken, now brilliant Guardian

Pro-democracy movement draws thousands in Bangkok Guardian

Thailand protests: Risking it all to challenge the monarchy BBC

The Story of Thai Democracy: Octobers of Tragedy  Ken Lohatepanont

UAE gambles on a shaky promise that Israel suspend formal West Bank annexation Responsible Statecraft

The bookish Thai rights lawyer who challenged the king Reuters

Why has the UK done so badly on Covid-19? There are still no simple answers The Guardian

A Newsroom at the Edge of Autocracy The Atlantic

A friendship; a pandemic; and a death beside the railway NYT

July 2020

Secrets of the Boeing 747: on board the last Qantas jumbo jet Guardian

Boeing out in style: a pilot’s final flight in a 747 FT

How Nespresso’s coffee revolution got ground down Guardian

China’s Great Firewall descends on Hong Kong internet users Guardian

Why Consulum Isn’t Flinching About Promoting Hong Kong Provoke Media

Goodbye autonomy, welcome to Hong Kong, China – and we mean it now HKFP

Hongkongers face a Kafkaesque reality as censors outlaw the words of protest Guardian

Britain and Covid-19: a chronicle of incompetence New Statesman

Five ways Hong Kong has changed under China’s security law AFP

Beijing crackdown will squeeze business Australia Financial Review

Perhaps Ghislaine Maxwell can fill in some blanks for Epstein’s ‘bewildered’ friends Guardian

June 2020

A personal letter from Hong Kong Index on Censorship

Timeline: How the global coronavirus pandemic unfolded Reuters

Special Report: Into the fog – How Britain lost track of the coronavirus Reuters Special Report

‘A chain of stupidity’: the Skripal case and the decline of Russia’s spy agencies Guardian

NokScoot budget airline to cease operations Thai PBS

China’s Zoom Bomb ChinaFile

Spied on. Fired. Publicly shamed. China’s crackdown on professors reminds many of Mao era Los Angeles Times

Thai Dissidents Are Disappearing, and Families Are Fighting for Answers New York Times

PIA aircraft crashed due to human error: report Express Tribune

ACCIDENT OF PIA FLIGHT PK8303 AIRBUS A320-214 REG NO AP-BLD CRASHED NEAR KARACHI AIRPORT ON 22-05-2020 Preliminary Report Pakistan CAA.

US v China: is this the start of a new cold war? Guardian

How Will the Prosecutions Against Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor Unfold? Jerome Cohen

Emirates’ Nerve-Racking Approach To Layoffs One Mile at a Time

A look inside Thailand, which prevented coronavirus from gaining a foothold National Geographic

China charges Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor with espionage The Globe and Mail

How Europe Can Live with China Project Syndicate

The End of Tourism The Guardian

‘All lies’: how the US military covered up gunning down two journalists in Iraq The Guardian/Reuters (Dean Yates)

Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians Guardian/Wikileaks – relevant to article above.

The Observer view: as Britain flounders, Europe charts its recovery Observer

Qatar Airways plans 25% pay cut but only for foreign pilots Airlive

‘An American fiasco’: US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases Guardian

America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism Time

How Thailand Contained COVID-19 Foreign Policy in Focus

How Hong Kong caught fire: the story of a radical uprising Guardian

History Will Judge the Complicit. Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president? The Atlantic

Calls to suicide hotline show Thais’ stress in downturn Reuters Wider Image

Hong Kong’s last British leader: China’s agenda ‘Orwellian’ AP

The road not taken: China after Tiananmen FT

‘We were packed like sardines’: evidence grows of mass-event dangers early in pandemic Guardian

How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change Barack Obama – Medium.com

China delayed releasing coronavirus info, frustrating WHO Associated Press

HKFP Lens: ‘The students will prevail’ – Rare shots of Tiananmen Square, before and after the 1989 massacre Hong Kong Free Press

Protests may be last straw for U.S. global stature Reuters Breaking Views

Coronavirus: The mystery of asymptomatic ‘silent spreaders’ BBC

May 2020

Dominic Cummings is a convenient scapegoat for the government’s failures New Statesman

Beijing Has Lit Hong Kong’s Funeral Pyre Foreign Policy

UK suffers highest death rate from coronavirus FT

Dr Stanley Ho: Father of modern Macau Inside Asian Gaming

The truth about why Cummings hasn’t gone: Johnson is too terrified to sack him Guardian

A cold war is heating up in the South China Sea Japan Times

Did Japan Just Beat the Virus Without Lockdowns or Mass Testing? Bloomberg

The End of Hong Kong The Atlantic

National security law is end of Hong Kong’s freedom Nikkei Asian Review

The Infinite Heartbreak of Loving Hong Kong The Nation

From near disaster to success story: how Japan has tackled coronavirus Guardian

COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol EASA

‘Culture of violence’: The Thai military’s problem with abuse Al Jazeera

Xi makes high-stakes power play in move to subdue Hong Kong Reuters

Justice only belongs to the powerful Thai Enquirer

On Forgetting April and May of 2010 Thai Enquirer

As if the NCPO Never Left: Six Years After the Coup and the Persistence of Human Rights Violations Thai Lawyers for Human Rights

EMIRATES 2019-2020 ANNUAL RESULTS SHOW US$456M PROFIT Airways

Former ambassador and author James Wise on how Thailand averted COVID disaster and what it means for its economy and politics. Asialink

How Hong Kong Did It The Atlantic

100 days later: How did Britain fail so badly in dealing with Covid-19? Observer

‘Finally, a virus got me.’ Scientist who fought Ebola and HIV reflects on facing death from COVID-19 Science Magazine

Emirates Group expects at least 18-month crisis recovery Flight Global

Experts worry CDC is sidelined in coronavirus response AP

The grand old man of Chiang Mai: the life of Harold Young CityLife Chiang Mai

McDonald’s Workers in Denmark Pity Us Danes haven’t built a “socialist” country. Just one that works. New York Times

Work From Home Is Here to Stay The future of jobs after the pandemic is a blurry mix of work, life, pajamas, and Zoom. The Atlantic

Covid-19: The history of pandemics BBC

‘His head wasn’t in the world of reality’: how the plot to invade Venezuela fell apart Guardian

‘Sharjah Paramount’: the story of the UAE’s first cinema, a meeting place for British servicemen and locals The National

What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane The Atlantic (from 2019)

Keir Starmer: ‘The government has been slow in nearly all of the major decisions’ FT

The Virus Is Winning – Magical thinking won’t protect us. NYT

Inside Donald Trump and Jared Kushner’s Two Months of Magical Thinking Vanity Fair

“They’re Starting To Feel Good”: In Trump’s Mind, Coronavirus Is Already Over Vanity Fair

Five Eyes network contradicts theory Covid-19 leaked from lab Guardian

For Thais, only disorder in today’s world order Thai Enquirer

The Observer view on Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia The Observer

The Rest of the World Is Laughing at Trump The Atlantic

Migrants jobless and trapped under Thai coronavirus lockdown Thomson Reuters Foundation

Tourlong Thailand New Mandala

The Inside Story Of Matt Hancock’s “Surreal” Race Against The Clock To Hit 100,000 Coronavirus Tests Per Day Buzzfeed

April 2020

BBC Statement on Panorama, Monday 27 April: Has The Government Failed the NHS? BBC

How the face mask became the world’s most coveted commodity Guardian

Coronavirus: UK failed to stockpile crucial PPE BBC

Revealed: the inside story of the UK’s Covid-19 crisis Guardian

Global coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported FT

The months of magical thinking: As the coronavirus swept over China, some experts were in denial StatNews.com

Inside UK care homes: why the system is failing its coronavirus test FT

Coronavirus came to New York from Europe, not China, governor says Reuters

As Coronavirus Fades in China, Nationalism and Xenophobia Flare New York Times

8 ways the slave mentality shaped Thailand  Thisrupt

Yuen Kwok-yung, D Lung: Pandemic Originated from Wuhan; Lesson from 17 Years Ago Forsaken Translated from Ming Pao Daily in Hong Kong

Coronavirus death toll in UK twice as high as official figure FT – free to read

Coronavirus: Learning How to Dance Tomas Pueyo on Medium

Coronavirus very likely of animal origin, no sign of lab manipulation: WHO Reuters

Misinformation goes Viral Jason Shepherd, PhD on Medium

SARS: how a global epidemic was stopped Bulletin of the World Health Organisation

Thailand Confronts its Triple Disaster in 2020 The Diplomat

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s misdirection on virus testing, deaths Associated Press

Caught in a superpower struggle: the inside story of the WHO’s response to coronavirus Guardian

MAGA world finds its coronavirus scapegoats Politico

Coronavirus: Is there any evidence for lab release theory? BBC

The Observer view on the coronavirus errors that have cost precious lives Observor

Love and fear of dying in the time of coronavirus AFP

Thailand takes bold, but risky, step to cement its future The Asian Game

How did Britain get its coronavirus response so wrong? Observor

Protect Medical Workers in Thailand from Covid-19 HRW

US military chief: ‘Weight of evidence’ that Covid-19 did not originate in a lab Guardian

Exit, the House of Karrimor. Enter, the austere and unforgiving House of Saud Guardian

No matter how you crunch the numbers, this pandemic is only just getting started Guardian

WHO warned of transmission risk in January, despite Trump claims

We scientists said lock down. But UK politicians refused to listen Guardian

Blaming China Is a Dangerous Distraction Project Syndicate

Trump halts World Health Organization funding over coronavirus ‘failure’ Guardian

Trump’s decision to cut WHO funding is an act of international vandalism Guardian

Covid-19 in Thailand: Are we missing something? Bangkok Post

‘I feel fear and guilt’: an NHS junior doctor on the effect of getting Covid-19 Guardian

State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses Washington Post

The U.S. Role in International Organizations’ Response to COVID-19 US Dept of State Fact Sheet from 31 March 2020

Trump’s Deadly Search for a Scapegoat New York Times

China didn’t warn public of likely pandemic for 6 key days By The Associated Press 2 hours ago AP

The Brutal Bludgeoning of Experts Endangers All of us Will Black for “Medium”

Shaky rationale for ‘punishing’ China for Covid-19 Asia Times

10,000 UK coronavirus deaths: don’t forget that this was preventable Guardian

Shaky rationale for ‘punishing’ China for Covid-19  Asia Times

Coronavirus: Photos of Wuhan after 11-week lockdown CNBC

For millions, lockdown is not novels and quality family time but food parcels and hardship Guardian

Coronavirus: who will be winners and losers in new world order? Guardian

Inside the Viral Spread of a Coronavirus Origin Theory Vanity Fair

Britain had a head start on Covid-19, but our leaders squandered it Guardian

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus New York Times

The WHO v coronavirus: why it can’t handle the pandemic The Guardian

Why this crisis is a turning point in history New Statesman

Face masks for the public during the covid-19 crisis British Medical Journal

100 days of coronavirus Guardian

The sound of icebergs melting: my journey into the Antarctic Guardian

Special Report: Johnson listened to his scientists about coronavirus – but they were slow to sound the alarm Reuters

The vital contexts of coronavirus Journal of Medical Ethics

Britain Just Got Pulled Back From the Edge The Atlantic

English football’s blame culture makes it unable to come together Guardian

Fear Lingers in Wuhan as China Eases Lockdown WSJ

Many of Thailand’s 3,000 domesticated elephants are in danger of losing their homes ThisRupt

Death at home: the unseen toll of Italy’s coronavirus crisis Reuters

America Is Ailing—and Leading the World Foreign Policy

Covid-19 presents stark choices between life, death and the economy The Economist

CORONAVIRUS STARTED IN CHINA, BUT EUROPE BECAME THE HUB FOR ITS GLOBAL SPREAD The Intercept

Boris Johnson Needs to Learn From Andrew Cuomo NYT

‘We can’t go back to normal’: how will coronavirus change the world? Guardian

China Created a Fail-Safe System to Track Contagions. It Failed. New York Times

March 2020

The etiquette of face-masks in Hong Kong Economist

More Americans Should Probably Wear Masks for Protection New York Times

Bergamo, Italy This is the bleak heart of the world’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak. New York Times

The Meaning of Boris Johnson’s Illness The Atlantic

Virus as Metaphor New York Times

U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic Washington Post

How the Virus Got Out NYT

The Other Problematic Outbreak The Atlantic

A Glimpse of the Coronavirus’s Possible Legacy The Atlantic

Why Telling People They Don’t Need Masks Backfired New York Times

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now Medium – Tomas Pueyo

What can Britain learn about containing Covid-19 from countries that got it right? Guardian

Coronavirus: Wuhan doctor speaks out against authorities Guardian

How will country-based mitigation measures influence the course of the COVID-19 epidemic? The Lancet

Dubai ruler organised kidnapping of his children, UK court rules Guardian

Censored Contagion How Information on the Coronavirus is Managed on Chinese Social Media Munk School – University of Toronto

February 2020

Thailand: Dissolution of opposition party a further blow to human rights Article 19

THAI DEMOCRACY After the Future South East Asia Globe

China Ramps Up Virus Propaganda, And Stirs Even More Outrage Bloomberg

Manchester City backers are not the sort to take Uefa’s punishment lying down Guardian

Manchester City now look like a butterfly in danger of having its wings picked off Guardian

Thailand – daring to dream WomensCriczone

Do not expect too much of 2020’s fairytale… Thailand have already won by making the finals Cricketer

January 2020

How cricket is at the forefront of post-apartheid South Africa’s racial transformation Independent

Brexit, the most pointless, masochistic ambition in our country’s history, is done Guardian

Profumo: a scandal that keeps giving, even after 50 years Guardian

Boeing internal documents reveal culture of deceit to keep down costs of 737 MAX Seattle Times

AMERICA SHOULD BE REALISTIC ABOUT ITS ALLIANCE WITH THAILAND War on the Rocks

Thailand’s military-proxy government remains fragile East Asia Forum

Thai regime spooked by Thanathorn and his angry young supporters Nikkei Asian Review

The Guardian view on internet censorship: when access is denied

Hugh Riminton: We Are A Burning Nation Led By Cowards

Hong Kong’s year in seven intense emotions BBC