Some interesting psychology going on around vaccine rollout. UK rollout is among the fastest in the world right now, but last night I saw a self-flagellating piece comparing UK rollout unfavourably to Israel...
... Scotland is doing better than almost anywhwere in the world. But not as well as England. I see a lot of melting down about that...
...my American friends are comparing themselves to UK and Israel and conclude the US rollout is a disaster. Yet US has vaccinated 4x as many per person as France. 3x as many as Germany...
...and all of these countries are doing spectacularly well compared to India - which is the largest manfucturer of vaccines on the planet...
ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-…
...don't get me wrong. People in Scotland have every right to ask why they are behind England. All of us should learn from Israel. And ultimately, we're not in a race against each other - we're in a race against the virus...
...but that said, the ability of people to stare directly at success and declare it to be failure because someone else is having even greater success?
It's something we should all beware.
(In other news, last night I looked at my friend @AdamMGrant 's deserved smash hit - Top 10 on Amazon US - published the same day as "The Data Detective". I immediately asked myself what I and my publishers had done wrong. This sort of silly thinking seems inescapable!)
Adam's brilliant book is here: amzn.to/3aon6uy
My book is here: timharford.com/books/datadete…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Tim Harford

Tim Harford Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @TimHarford

1 Feb
Do you want to be able to think more clearly about the world?

Do you want to be able to evaluate the claims that swirl around you in the media and on social media?

1/
Do you wish you knew what questions to ask to sift out the truth from the misinformation?

Are you a curious person, more interested in finding out about the world than in winning some argument on Twitter?

2/
Would you like to come away from reading the news feeling calmer and better informed, rather than stressed and confused?

If the answer to some of those questions is yes, I have good news: it’s publication week for my new book The Data Detective.
timharford.com/2021/02/announ…

3/
Read 16 tweets
31 Jan
A belated Christmas quiz question for you - what do puzzles, poker, and misinformation have in common? The answer is at the bottom of this thread.
1/
Easier question first. In Santa’s workshop, if it takes five elves five minutes to wrap five presents, how long does it take 50 elves to wrap 50 presents?
2/
You probably know the answer to that one; it follows a classic formula for a trick question. But as you groped towards the correct answer you may have had to fight off your instinct to blurt out a tempting wrong answer: 50 minutes.
3/
Read 29 tweets
29 Jan
Will it ever end? In November we were celebrating the announcements of several effective vaccines. Now hospitals are overwhelmed and the global death toll is climbing twice as fast as the worst days of the first wave.
At times like this, I reach for my calculator.
1/
There are two reasons why these vaccines, some highly effective, have not yet done anything obvious to save lives or protect hospitals.
The first is evident: not enough people have been vaccinated so far.
2/
The second reason is that the vaccine takes time to work. In the UK, Margaret Keenan received a first dose of vaccine bright and early on December 8, but it needs a couple of weeks to provide much protection. She and her fellow first-day vaccinees were safer by Christmas.
3/
Read 16 tweets
28 Jan
They called Abraham Bredius 'The Pope', a nickname that poked fun at his self-importance while acknowledging his authority. Bredius was the world's leading scholar of the mysterious Dutch master, Johannes Vermeer.
1/
When Bredius was younger, he’d made his name by spotting works wrongly attributed to Vermeer. Now, at the age of 82, he had just published a highly respected book and was enjoying a retirement swan song in Monaco.
2/
It was at this moment, in 1937, that Gerard Boon paid a visit to his villa. Boon, a former Dutch MP, came to Bredius on behalf of dissidents in Mussolini’s Italy. They needed to raise money to fund their escape to the US. Tthey had something which might be of value.
3/
Read 10 tweets
27 Jan
I’m delighted to be sharing a publication day, 2 February, with @AdamMGrant and his new book, Think Again. [UK: amzn.to/3oot17A] (US: amzn.to/3pp9PIb] Bookshop: uk.bookshop.org/lists/recent-r…
1/
Well, mostly delighted: that’s one fewer slot on the bestseller lists for me to aim for. Think Again is a stone cold classic and destined to do extremely well.
2/
The book explores three key areas: individual rethinking (the challenges and benefits of reconsidering your views); interpersonal rethinking (how do you get other people to think again?); and collective rethinking (can we shape a culture of respectful and engaged debate?).
3/
Read 19 tweets
22 Jan
Has there been a moment in modern history where so many people in free societies have believed such damaging lies?
ft.com/content/b25595…
1/
It’s easy to point to the US, where nearly 90 per cent of people who voted for Donald Trump believe Joe Biden’s election victory was not legitimate.
2/
But it’s not just the US. In France, a minority of adults are confident that vaccines are safe, which explains why only 40 per cent say they plan to get a Covid-19 shot.
3/
Read 17 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!