Features - Page 182

In the past 137 years, the Metropolitan Opera has been through rather a lot. This year can now be included in the history books as its most challenging yet, in light of the decision to cancel of the fall season as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. This marks the longest hiatus in the company’s history, with no clear end point in sight.

As of mid-April, MPs have been able to contribute to parliamentary proceedings from afar by the use of video link. This afternoon, they will vote on whether or not to continue such measures as the Commons returns from its Whitsun recess.

On Tuesday June 2, British manufacturer Trimite Global Coatings launched its new ShieldmeTM range, offering new ways for public places to become coronavirus free.

In conversation with the Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, John Mestitz, managing director of Techna International Ltd, reflects on how the business has adapted to meet the unprecedented challenge of Covid-19 and offers his thoughts on the government’s gradual easing of lockdown restrictions.

With the success of this weekend’s SpaceX Nasa Mission, it seems another generation of children who hope to become astronauts is on the cards. Yet for institutions like the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum a different challenge faces them back on earth – how best to engage with children when tactile exhibits are no longer possible.

Taika Waititi, the Oscar-winning director, has been recognised on New Zealand’s Queen’s birthday list for services to film. Waititi, director of Jojo Rabbit, one of last year’s more controversial releases, has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

For Alistair Carmichael, returning to Westminster for tomorrow’s reopening is more complicated than the tube journeys of some of his peers. Carmichael, the Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland, will have to travel 18 hours to return to London, a journey that comprises of two trains and a plane. He is just one of many MPs protesting the government’s decision to reopen parliament in the eleventh week of lockdown.

Baronsmede Family Homes was established in 1985 to provide services for adults with learning disabilities. In conversation with the Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, owner Dee Tormey discusses the struggles this critical corner of the care sector is facing as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and the preparation that will need to go into readying Baronsmede for what will become the ‘new normal’ way of operating.

1984 is perhaps better associated with Orwell than with the contemporary arts. Yet the year is of particular significance in the modern art world – it saw the foundation of the Turner Prize, an award, according to the Tate “formed to encourage wider interest in contemporary art and assist Tate in acquiring new works.” Yet another casualty of Covid-19, it was revealed earlier this week that the 2020 incarnation of the prize was to be cancelled, and that the prize money used as artist bursaries instead.

Building is something architects are well accustomed to. Indeed, their role demands a well-developed knowledge of the field. However, the kind of rebuilding that Covid-19 requires is, to use one of the most overused words of the pandemic “unprecedented”.

Ian Bennett is the headteacher of Downshall Primary School in Essex. Writing for the Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, Bennett offers his reflections on the Covid-19 pandemic thus far, issuing a rallying call to fellow members of the teaching profession that soon, as the UK begins to emerge from lockdown, it will be their time to step up as public sector workers.

Perhaps the age-old adage, twos company, threes a crowd was made for the outbreak of Covid-19. Indeed, our redefined understanding of what social distancing means, has impacted any and all spheres, from public transport to buying milk. Music critic for The Telegraph, Neil McCormick, feels the impact of Covid-19 most acutely in the reformed gig circuit. His scathing piece for the paper leaves us under no illusion as to which side of the fence he sits.

Being taken to court by the President of the United States is perhaps not the first thing one expects to happen when creating a cartoon. Yet Pulitzer prize winning cartoonist, Nick Anderson, seems to have taken his quite unique situation in his stride.

On 1 May, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, allowed all museums in Texas to reopen at 25 per cent of their former capacity. Now, almost a month later, institutions across the state have taken the decision to reopen, introducing previously unthinkable measures to ensure the safety of their visitors.