Many’s the year I’ve thought of flying to New York just to attend the annual New Yorker Festival, that hotbed of intelligent discussion. But of course I never have. This year, I’ve bought a very reasonably priced season ticket to the first virtual New Yorker Festival. It runs from October 5 to 11, with the ability to catch up with recorded sessions until October 13.
The program is brilliant. Some hours after the first real session, I insert AirPods in Lucky Bat Cafe in Darwin and sink into watching a relaxed Anthony Fauci talking (as best he can, sometimes of course he can’t comment although he usually manages to make his views clear on any issue) talking to Michael Specter, a noted New Yorker writer (and “author” of a new Audible audiobook called Fauci). The hour is superb viewing, inspiring and intriguing on so many fronts. Most importantly, I’m reminded yet again that the unsung heroes of today’s world are the scientists.