Reducing Screen Time: British High Street Brands ‘Junking Large Transparent Sheets’! #PostCOVID19

UK retail bosses are planning to remove more plastic screens installed at tills during the pandemic, a trend which has already begun in earnest at some locations #PostCOVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 3, 2021

Plans to get rid of more plastic screens in UK retail environments are apparently quite advanced, with several disposal options actively being considered #PostCOVID19 #retail

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 3, 2021

Analysis: following its relatively strict approach during the pandemic, Pret a Manger has already ditched plastic screens and made face coverings voluntary for staff and customers; others names in British retail are now following its lead #Pret #PostCOVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 3, 2021

To watch: getting rid of screens installed at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds is no small task; recycling them en masse seems to be the best option to avoid yet another #COVID response-related ecological 'event' https://t.co/vzxQtaPwlH

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 3, 2021

Fast Food Consternation: US Workers Abandon Hospitality Industry Jobs! #FastFood

United States: 1.2m hospitality industry positions now lie unfilled in the world's largest economy – just when demand for these services is beginning to pick up #HospitalityJobs #economics

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 5, 2021

A stunning c.5% of employees in restaurants, bars and hotels left their jobs in every single month of H1/2021; in May alone, this comprised 0.76m workers #MinimumWage #hospitalityindustry

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 5, 2021

Analysis: the psychological strain of dealing with a stressed-out general public is crushing food service staff; more than 50% of exiting workers stated that 'no amount' of pay would get them to return #FastFood #hospitality

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 5, 2021

To watch: the wage elasticity in hospitality industry jobs is usually a good indicator of ground-level economic sentiment; whether this will continue to be the case remains to be seen #UnitedStates #MinimumWage https://t.co/Iux4WhNBzn

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 5, 2021

The Japan That Can’t Say No: Tokyo Olympics Spectator Ban Capitulation Confirmation! #Tokyo2020

Japan: the 2020 Summer Olympics will be held without spectators in host city Tokyo, a policy that could render #Tokyo2020 a ghostly and instantly forgettable spectacle #COVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 12, 2021

#Tokyo2020: a Tokyo-wide state of emergency taking effect on 12/07/2021 and ending on 22/08/2021 means that the #Olympics will be taking place in an atmosphere in total contrast to that of #EURO2020 #COVID19 #Japan

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 12, 2021

Analysis: the total ban on spectators at #Tokyo2020 seems disproportionate and counter-productive, not least because (i) #Japan never implemented a full #lockdown; and (ii) spectators have been present at J.League games during most of the pandemic #COVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 12, 2021

To watch: the near-total collapse of ticket revenues estimated at US$0.815bn/€0.687bn means that #Tokyo2020 – which has already burned through an estimated US$15.4bn – could end up being a fiscally ruinous dystopian nightmare https://t.co/BGZcnudTXB #Dystopia #Japan #Olympics

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 12, 2021

So Over the Rainbow: UEFA Declines LGBTQIA+ Protest Initiative! #GERHUN

Nyon, Switzerland: UEFA has turned down a request from Munich mayor Dieter Reiter to configure the Allianz Arena's lights in the rainbow configuration associated with the #LGBTQIA+ movement before tonight's #GERHUN #Euro2020 group game

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 23, 2021

Reuters: Reiter 'wanted to highlight legislation in #Hungary banning #school materials deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change and restricting the media from showing such content in programmes accessible to minors' #LGBTQIA #EURO2020

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 23, 2021

Analysis: UEFA's underscoring of its politically and religiously neutral nature in rejecting Munich mayor Reiter's #LGBTQIA lighting request sets an interesting precedent; the controversy has only underlined how divided Europe is on this issue more broadly

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 23, 2021

To watch: international sporting organisations such as #UEFA risk offending people of all political persuasions unless they can devise carefully-calibrated and eminently consistent positions on hot-button social issues https://t.co/vkZUSguuJs #Euro2020 #LGBTQIA

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 23, 2021

Dustbin of History Latest: Denmark Junks Vaccine Passports! #vaccinepassports

Copenhagen: both the #coronapas and the requirement to wear a face mask will be completely scrapped from 01/10/2021 as Denmark reverses course on #VaccinePassports and #COVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 20, 2021

Many #COVID-related restrictions have already been lifted in Denmark, a dramatic about-turn in a nation whose politicians had generally embraced them with borderline uncritical gusto #Denmark #VaccinePassports

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 20, 2021

Analysis: the fact that internal vaccine passports – which until recently were being pushed as an 'inevitability' by sections of the media – are now being dropped with alacrity indicates the depth of public resistance to the concept #VaccinePassports #media

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 20, 2021

Analysis: vaccine passports for international travel will be the next #COVID domino to confront possibly irresistible public pressure for their abolition; both left-wing (human rights) and right-wing (personal freedoms) sensibilities are 'merging' https://t.co/e4foBWE0fJ

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 20, 2021

China’s New Great Wall: Will Euro 2020 Perimeter Advertising Boost Beijing’s Soft Power?

In recent years, the inexorable rise of China as a global force – and its supplanting of the United States as the world’s largest economy in terms of ‘pure’ GDP – has generated the kind of existential analysis that only occurs when one great power overtakes another. Although some of this content has been tinged with unwarranted alarmism and indeed militarism, the limits of Chinese soft power have also been shown up: for all its merits, the People’s Republic of China remains an authoritarian one-party state – hardly an aspirational goal.

It was therefore with real interest that we at Mediolana note the extraordinary marketing splurge being undertaken by Chinese corporations at UEFA’s Euro 2020 tournament: no fewer than four of the twelve top-tier event partners (33%) have their head offices in the Middle Kingdom, a greater share than those headquartered in the European Union (25%); the sight of perimeter advertising hoardings announcing goods and services in beguiling Mandarin script has been almost as compelling as the football on display.

Given the ever-firmer embedding of Communist Party of China officials inside their nation’s strategically valuable companies, it would not be unreasonable to speculate that there may be an element of coordination to this European publicity push. And on reflection, this is more sophisticated than it may first appear.

These advertising boards serve not merely as a reminder that China is now a global player in consumer goods and services (Hisense, Vivo, Alipay), but that it is assuming a leading position in forming the consciousness of the next generation (Tik Tok). Trade wars and Wuhan laboratories are, in this conceptualisation, irrelevant blips.

However, it must be noted that the boards themselves contain something of an implied and unintended message: combining the stated goals of global economic and cultural integration with an increasingly ultra-choreographed, all-encompassing political system, looks – from a distance – as discordant as a Chinese-language advertising board beside a Baku soccer pitch.

Korean Existential Crisis Latest: Reproduction Horizons Narrow Yet Further! #COVID19

KDI School of Public Policy and Management + Kookmin University study: 78.1% of single South Koreans have not gone on a single blind date since February 2020 #COVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 25, 2021

Research: 48.7% of single South Koreans have stated that the frequency of getting new dates has declined since 02/2020; just 0.5% have the opposite opinion #media

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 25, 2021

Analysis: the findings of Choi Seul-ki and Kye Bong-oh's study could probably be replicated worldwide, with just the psychological effects of a permanent emergency footing on the most elemental human interactions arguably far outweighing any purported benefits #COVID19

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 25, 2021

To watch: 2021 has seen South Korea's population fall for the first time in its history; even the country's relatively mild response to #COVID19 is likely to accelerate the demographic reverse https://t.co/qfGqwIij0F #Korea #demography #birthrates

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 25, 2021

Korea Team Shrugging: ‘World’s Smartest Nation’ Gives COVID-19 Vaccines the Big Meh! #COVID19

Seoul: South Korea – a country which regularly features at the top of international academic attainment assessments – has seen a #COVID19 vaccination take-up rate of just 7% #Korea #vaccine

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 18, 2021

According to Kim Woo-joo – an infectious disease specialist at Korea University Guro Hospital – even many elderly citizens in the Republic of Korea are giving the #COVID19 #vaccines a wide berth owing to 'lingering uncertainties' over safety

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 18, 2021

Analysis: the fact that 93% of South Korea's population have effectively opted-out of taking the #COVID19 vaccine arguably represents one of the all-time great publicity failures; a near-infinity advertising budget has made almost no difference to participation rates #vaccine

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 18, 2021

To watch: the introduction of public anxiety relief mechanisms, such as meaningful compensation schemes for #COVID19 #vaccine side-effects, may ultimately be ineffective in increasing compliance; 'incentives' could be an ever bigger flop https://t.co/Ce3aoc1Ma4

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 18, 2021

Can of Worms Latest: UK Medical Journal Rejects Vaccine Passport Concept! #vaccinepassports

British medical journal The BMJ: #VaccinePassports are such a bad idea that 'even talking about introducing them may be enough to do damage' #vaccines

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) April 5, 2021

The BMJ: using #VaccinePassports as a criterion for basic social and economic passports is an idea 'with few redeeming features'; even some of the grounds used to support these 'passports' may be ultimately specious

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) April 5, 2021

Analysis: #VaccinePassports would likely have had a far warmer reception had the #COVID crisis lasted the promised three weeks; over a year into the saga, opinion within the global medical community and public is hardening against them

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) April 5, 2021

To watch: by so much as seriously considering #VaccinePassports, both governments and corporations are risking being perceived as adding insult to injury; the biggest economic crisis in 300 years awaits https://t.co/ALy14lKMuf

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) April 5, 2021

Stab in the Dark Latest: Denmark Halts Use of #AstraZeneca #COVID #Vaccine!

Copenhagen: the Danish Health Authority has suspended the use of AstraZeneca's #COVID19 #vaccine after some patients developed not-insignificant blood clots following the injection #vaccinehesitancy #Oxford

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) March 11, 2021

The Danish Health Authority's move to stall the use of the Oxford jab comes after what it described as 'reports of serious cases of blood clots among people vaccinated with #AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine' #COVID19 #vaccine #VaccinePassport

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) March 11, 2021

Analysis: the total absence of long-term studies into any of the #COVID19 vaccines is creating a new form of reality show which straddles the border between disturbing and alarming #AstraZeneca #vaccine #bloodclot #Denmark

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) March 11, 2021

To watch: perceptions of #COVID19 management are likely to take a nosedive from a low baseline unless holistic and responsible cost-benefit analysis models are deployed with some immediacy https://t.co/IuvJ55DhUU

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) March 11, 2021