Dear Diary,

It is possible that we are all in a daze from so many days of lockdown.

I do not rule it out at all. And we are just in the middle, or at best, at the very beginning of the end of this cursed epidemic that has found us.

However, there is a widespread impression that the world we know is collapsing before our eyes.
That we are leaving behind the one created in the wake of the Crash of ’29 and the wars that followed and that a new world is being born. A young, but angry world where no one knows where s/he will end up.

A look at today’s news will help us better understand the changes that are taking place:
It is ironic – although some would call it divine justice – that Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spent a few days in the Intensive Care Unit at a London hospital (in St. Thomas Hospital, where Andreas Papandreou underwent surgery). And it’s ironic because Johnson was among the world leaders in ‘denial’ about the coronavirus.

He didn’t think a pandemic was possible. In the end, however, he called for measures for the protection of his people, but he did not take sufficient care of himself.

We hope, of course, that the man will get well but the Queen’s speech this week – reminiscent of World War II – and the image of the British Prime Minister in the Intensive Care Unit were shocking developments.

It appears, however, that Italy, with almost 150K people infected and almost 20K deaths – first on the list of countries with the most deaths – has entered the post-coronavirus era. Alas, it enters a period that promises economic misery.

“Italy Is Sending Another Warning” a New York Times headline shouted this week.

“The economy is in trouble, bound for a major contraction,” the article noted, adding “the situation for many is bleak.” “Everyone here is having problems now,” the reporter quoted Mr. Gallinari, a florist, who added, “there are lots of people who are going hungry. You can see that their behavior is beginning to change.”

And Thomas Friedman, a well-known commentator at the NYT, is proposing a government of national unity under Joe Biden with cabinet members “from Democrats on the Bernie Sanders left to Republicans on the Mitt Romney right.”

Finally, President Trump insists on promoting a drug that has not been approved by the authorities and against the opinion of leading experts in the field. “I’m not a doctor,” he said, “but I have common sense.”

His insistence in promoting the drug has raised questions about his motives. Critics attribute the President’s words to the fact that he has a small investment in Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical company that produces it.

So, it is a frightened world we see, with hunger close by or at the gates.

A time without morals and principles.

A world in flux, looking for solutions.

For easy solutions.