The Economist is one our the few papers to report genuinely good news, such as the fact that child mortality is falling rapidly.
In 2009 3.3m children died before they were four weeks old, down from 4.6m in 1990, according to a new paper from the World Health Organisation. The burden is not spread evenly. Five populous countries—India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and the Congo—now account for more than half of all neonatal deaths
Since countries in far worse shape than those five have much lower mortality rates, the remaining deaths clearly have more to do with politics and neglect than poverty. So don't let the guilt industry lay child mortality at your door.
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but something did. Perhaps it was the sheer scope of the concept, the depth of the imagination, and the grandeur of the images that expanded my mind so.
taught me to care
but it was worth it to understand quality.
shaped my middle-age politics.
. It also made me laugh a lot.
but especially 
and 
, which I re-read occasionally with renewed pleasure.