It has been a month since I flew to Korea, and England has entered into a second lockdown since this Thursday. People here do not talk about the pandemic much, neither do the media. COVID-19 news, except the daily number of cases and deaths, seemingly has been no longer in the front pages of the media. Instead, stupid quarrels in Korean politics and fine ...  Read this >>

Last Friday, I flew to Korea. Since then, my quarantine life has begun. This quarantine will be remembered as a unique experience, so I would like to record it in this entry.  The journey to Korea this time was very different from the usual. The airports as well as the flights were exceptionally uncrowded, but it was challenging to wear a mask and a...  Read this >>

* I’ve realized that the pandemic makes me impatient, impulsive and a bit negative. Decision that I made recently proves it. I’ve been busy recently with dealing with multiple things. I am packing for a four-month-stay in Korea, packing to move from the current flat and searching for a new flat that I hope I sign contract before leaving the ...  Read this >>

The world’s attention has been focused on the development and fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. However, financial contributions to the COVAX initiative, a global coordinated effort to promote the development of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure fair allocation of the vaccines, has been unsuccessful to reach its target amount. Last week, the WHO m...  Read this >>

1.       It has been a month since I posted a diary piece on this blog. I am getting slow in posting. I started posting a diary piece from the beginning of the pandemic, to express my confusions and concerns associated with this pandemic. Therefore, my slow postings may indicate that I have found some rhythm and stability in the virus ...  Read this >>

It was about a dacade later after the financial crisis hit South Korea in 1997 that I read Durkheim's Suicide (1897). At that time, my country had been still suffering from economic recession, and many people committed suicide due to financial difficulties and depression. I merely remember the details of the book. But I remember that I agreed with him tha...  Read this >>

Since the pandemic began, we have told and thought that our lives will never be the same as it was before the pandemic. However, perhaps nobody knew how different it would be and what it would look like. I may have underrated COVID 19’s impact on my life as I had underestimated its impacts on public health at the beginning of this year. This had con...  Read this >>

I travelled to Cambodia with my mom to see Angkor Wat and its cities a few years ago. The public transportation system of the country was not well-developed at the time when we travelled. We used a Tuk tuk, which is a two-wheeled carriage connected to a motorbike, to travel around the cities. It was an open carriage, and so we were able to enjoy the breez...  Read this >>

I work as an invigilator during exam periods at my University. I help students take an exam smoothly without disturbances. I provide them with information and guidance, extra papers and stationeries while they’re taking the exam. One of my duties is to prevent students from committing immoral behaviour at an exam site, i.e. cheating. We provide stud...  Read this >>

I came to the UK almost two years ago, and found it interesting that UK media outlets had talked about nothing other than Brexit. It seemed that they were less concerned about other issues such as welfare, education, immigration, unemployment, and crimes. These issues were otherwise discussed in terms of the influence Brexit had on them. These issues see...  Read this >>

The one thing this pandemic has taught us is the value and the importance of international cooperation. Since COVID-19 has hit the world, states have seemed to have their own way in containing the virus and protecting their citizens. Amid states’ infdependent movements, there are two global efforts for the development of vaccines and treatments for ...  Read this >>

When the lockdown started, one of my friends emailed me to ask if I am OK. I wasn't sure if I was OK or not. Everything had changed rapidly, and there were not many things that I was sure of. I was busy figuring out what was happening; however, it was not easy because situations changed very often. I was experiencing many ups and downs in a day, however, ...  Read this >>

I am quietly excited with the unexpected chance the pandemic brought us: the experimentation of a universal basic income (UBI).  UBI is a social policy that provides every individual of a society with a certain amount of cash on a regular basis, and that payment is delivered unconditionally regardless of income and labour status. It has five charact...  Read this >>

Whenever listening to the government’s daily coronavirus briefing, I have strange feelings. For me, there seems to be something not right in the government’s attitude in coping with the pandemic. I also feel that the briefings have not touched fundamental issues. Recently, I noticed what caused this uneasiness: the government’s framing t...  Read this >>

My eye vision is poor, and the world that I see is always a bit blurry. However, I do not like to wear glasses. When wearing them, I feel that the lenses distort the images of the world that I see through the glasses, and that an invisible barrier makes me feel distant from the person whom I talk with. I have always been comfortable in my blurry world. Fo...  Read this >>

On Easter Sunday, I thought about death. The beginning of the day was nothing special. I woke up, arranged my room, watched my favourite morning TV show, went to the supermarket to get milk and cereal, and cleaned the washing machine. I lived my ‘life', and there was no place for ‘death’. After I had finished my to-do list, there was n...  Read this >>

A question: How much of human freedom and human rights can people sacrifice to cope with a pandemic? As COVID-19 spreads all over the world, every country has been responding to the virus by using a different set of measures that, they believe, works best for their nation. Nobody knows which approach is the best and, particularly, for what criteria. The...  Read this >>

Even ten days ago, I would not have expected to feel sympathy for politicians and high-ranking government officers because they are, generally, affluent and well-educated, and so, they are usually at the top of the social ladder. Boris Johnson was no exception - he is well-educated, holds a job as a politician of high profile, enjoys his status as a globa...  Read this >>

It is Monday and the first day of the third consecutive week of the lockdown. Last Saturday and Sunday, we were blessed with sunshine and a gentle breeze, but I had been depressed over the weekend. It was not because I was running low on sweets in my cupboard (though they are important for me to maintain my mood). I felt bad because of the news of the de...  Read this >>

My family and friends in South Korea ask me several questions about the UK’s response to COVID-19 with genuine curiosity. Two of the frequently asked questions are: ‘Why are people buying a lot of groceries, especially toilet rolls?’ and ‘Why don’t people wear masks outside?’. I don't have the right answers and spent so...  Read this >>

There were days, in the not too distant past, when we could have the freedom to go and explore anywhere (within socially acceptable boundaries though), and nobody could deter our desire to go out. It was one of those beautiful days when it happened.  One sunny Sunday, Mar. 22, a day before the nationwide lockdown in the UK, I knew that a few of my f...  Read this >>

One of the many things this devastating pandemic has proved is what Aristotle said in the Nicomachean Ethics, i.e. ‘Human beings are social animals”. When governments, overwhelmed by skyrocketing confirmed cases of the virus, decided to lock down their cities, one of the many things people worried about was their isolation from the social int...  Read this >>