In an exclusive conversation, 2023 U.S. Open Champion Wydham Clark speaks to WION

Exclusive: 2023 U.S. Open Champion Wydham Clark speaks to WION

New Zealand's former Prime Minister Helen Clark has been appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lead a review of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Describing this duty as "exceptionally challenging", she has warned that the danger of the pandemic will not decrease easily and the possibility of such a crisis rising again still exists. reminding everyone that this is the sixth time in the last 17 years that such a crisis has arised.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/unknown-pneumonia-deadlier-than-coronavirus-sweeping-across-kazakhstan-warns-chinese-embassy-312099">Also read|&nbsp;'Unknown Pneumonia' deadlier than coronavirus sweeping across Kazakhstan, warns Chinese Embassy</a>

Clark said that&nbsp;if the world remained "flat-footed" in its response to pandemics, it faces future economic, social and political crisis.

"This is going to happen again. If the world is as flat-footed in response as it has been to this we are in serious ongoing economic, social, political crisis," she said in a local TV interview.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bubonic-plague-being-well-managed-in-china-not-high-risk-who-311353">Also read|&nbsp;Bubonic plague being 'well managed' in China, not high risk: WHO</a>

The statement came after the WHO on Thursday announced that Helen Clark and Liberia's former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will lead a panel investigating and scrutinising the global response to the ongoing pandemic.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called both women "strong-minded, independent leaders" and gave them the freedom to&nbsp;assess WHO's and governments' responses to the pandemic.

Clark and Sirleaf have to choose their panel members. Clark has described this to be a challenging but important job. "But there's also a very real job to do, which is to look at how the WHO has been able to lead. Does it have the right mechanisms? What actually happened here? And there's a lot of politics in that," she said.

New Zealand's former Prime Minister Helen Clark has been appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lead a review of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Zealand's former Prime Minister Helen Clark has been appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lead a review of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Describing this duty as "exceptionally challenging", she has warned that the danger of the pandemic will not decrease easily and the possibility of such a crisis rising again still exists. reminding everyone that this is the sixth time in the last 17 years that such a crisis has arised. Also read| 'Unknown Pneumonia' deadlier than coronavirus sweeping across Kazakhstan, warns Chinese Embassy Clark said that if the world remained "flat-footed" in its response to pandemics, it faces future economic, social and political crisis. "This is going to happen again. If the world is as flat-footed in response as it has been to this we are in serious ongoing economic, social, political crisis," she said in a local TV interview. Also read| Bubonic plague being 'well managed' in China, not high risk: WHO The statement came after the WHO on Thursday announced that Helen Clark and Liberia's former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will lead a panel investigating and scrutinising the global response to the ongoing pandemic. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called both women "strong-minded, independent leaders" and gave them the freedom to assess WHO's and governments' responses to the pandemic. Clark and Sirleaf have to choose their panel members. Clark has described this to be a challenging but important job. "But there's also a very real job to do, which is to look at how the WHO has been able to lead. Does it have the right mechanisms? What actually happened here? And there's a lot of politics in that," she said.

Flat-footed response will bring back crisis: former New Zealand PM Helen Clark

It&rsquo;s been only a week since the UK took the decision to Brexit but that one vote has altered the Britain I thought I knew. Born and raised in Canada, I have spent most of my professional life in the UK. It was my adopted home. I loved it and, in turn, I hoped it loved me.&nbsp; 
 
It doesn&rsquo;t. 
 
The vote to leave was largely an anti-immigrant vote and the Leave campaign seems to have given legitimacy to the ugliest facets of society &ndash; xenophobia and racism. 
 
I have spent the week interviewing experts on what the vote means for Britain. It turns out some of the brightest minds are foreign-born &ndash; an American risk analyst, an Indian economics professor, a Belarussian negotiation expert, and a Slovenian international economics expert. 
 
We had all considered the vibrant international capital of London home... but there&#39;s doubt seeping in now. Our beloved city has grown an ugly underbelly. The Slovenian economics expert put it best.&nbsp; 
 
His 26-year-old son, raised in Britain since he was a year old, called him after the vote. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t like us. They don&rsquo;t want us,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; 
 
We are &ldquo;the other&rdquo;. 
 
The American is considering returning to New York or perhaps Frankfurt; he has German roots and can get a passport. The Indian says she might take European job offers more seriously, and the Belarussian believes England is an uglier place now and wonders if it is the right place to raise her son. 
 
It has gotten ugly &ndash; fast. There has been a 57% rise in racist abuse after the Brexit vote, according to the National Police Chiefs&rsquo; Council. &nbsp; 
 
There&#39;s been racist graffiti scrawled on a Polish community centre in London. Letters stuffed through the doors of Polish families calling them &ldquo;Polish vermin&rdquo;, Muslims threatened with violence, an African American man verbally abused by teenagers in Manchester, a woman of South Asian descent born in Britain told to &ldquo;go home&rdquo; -- she swiftly retorted, &ldquo;I AM HOME&rdquo; -- and children of foreign parents taunted at schools.&nbsp; 
 
It all makes me sick. 
 
Then I wonder if this &ldquo;sudden&rdquo; surge of hatred for immigrants &ndash; &ldquo;the other&rdquo; &ndash; has always been there. Bubbling under the surface. Do the postman, the bartender, and the saleswoman all quietly judge me as soon as I open my mouth? Are they also wishing I would just go home? 
 
If this is the real Britain, well, I don&rsquo;t love you either and in this break-up, it&rsquo;s not me &ndash; it&rsquo;s you.

UK has seen a 57 per cent rise in racist abuse since it decided to exit the EU and Clark, a Canadian, suddenly finds herself as 'the other'

It’s been only a week since the UK took the decision to Brexit but that one vote has altered the Britain I thought I knew. Born and raised in Canada, I have spent most of my professional life in the UK. It was my adopted home. I loved it and, in turn, I hoped it loved me. It doesn’t. The vote to leave was largely an anti-immigrant vote and the Leave campaign seems to have given legitimacy to the ugliest facets of society – xenophobia and racism. I have spent the week interviewing experts on what the vote means for Britain. It turns out some of the brightest minds are foreign-born – an American risk analyst, an Indian economics professor, a Belarussian negotiation expert, and a Slovenian international economics expert. We had all considered the vibrant international capital of London home... but there's doubt seeping in now. Our beloved city has grown an ugly underbelly. The Slovenian economics expert put it best. His 26-year-old son, raised in Britain since he was a year old, called him after the vote. “They don’t like us. They don’t want us,” he said. We are “the other”. The American is considering returning to New York or perhaps Frankfurt; he has German roots and can get a passport. The Indian says she might take European job offers more seriously, and the Belarussian believes England is an uglier place now and wonders if it is the right place to raise her son. It has gotten ugly – fast. There has been a 57% rise in racist abuse after the Brexit vote, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council. There's been racist graffiti scrawled on a Polish community centre in London. Letters stuffed through the doors of Polish families calling them “Polish vermin”, Muslims threatened with violence, an African American man verbally abused by teenagers in Manchester, a woman of South Asian descent born in Britain told to “go home” -- she swiftly retorted, “I AM HOME” -- and children of foreign parents taunted at schools. It all makes me sick. Then I wonder if this “sudden” surge of hatred for immigrants – “the other” – has always been there. Bubbling under the surface. Do the postman, the bartender, and the saleswoman all quietly judge me as soon as I open my mouth? Are they also wishing I would just go home? If this is the real Britain, well, I don’t love you either and in this break-up, it’s not me – it’s you.

If this is the real Britain, then I don't love you

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