Perspective

Embarking on what he called a "wartime undertaking", US President Joe Biden has stepped up the federal response to Covid-19. Some 10 new executive orders signed on Biden's first day in office tackle everything from the logistics of the vaccination rollout to mask-wearing, as the new president warns the country's death toll could soon reach half a million. We discuss Biden's pandemic plan with George Rutherford, a Professor of Epidemiology and Health Administration at the University of California, San Francisco.

After four years of the chaos of Donald Trump's post-truth presidency, Joe Biden is now president of the United States. In his inauguration speech, just two weeks after the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, Biden declared that "democracy has prevailed". But what about Trump's legacy? We speak to Terry Moe, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and co-author of "Presidents, Populism, and the Crisis of Democracy".

The stage is set in Washington for what's gearing up to be a very different handover of power. Against the backdrop of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic in the United States and in a climate of recent tensions sparked by violence and the threat of further turmoil, Joe Biden will raise his hand, read his oath and pick up the reins of power in front of a handful of dignitaries, but huge amounts of security personnel. In our Perspective segment, we spoke to French journalist Mathieu Magnaudeix about covering the Trump presidency and the challenges ahead for Biden.

Today's Perspective looks at the issue which has dominated headlines for well over a year now. Last week, figures from Johns Hopkins University showed that at least two million people have died around the world from Covid-19, with governments pulling out all the stops to protect citizens and stem the spread of the coronavirus and its variants. We spoke to Paul Hunter, a Professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia. He's also a member of two World Health Organization advisory committees.

Most of us call a man a man, and if he's attracted to other men he is gay.  A woman is a woman, and if she's attracted to other women she is a lesbian.  But why should that be the norm, and why should people be boxed into categories like that? Harlan Pruden, a First Nations Cree academic and a two-spirit educator, tells us that in his native culture things are very different and the usual norms should not be imposed.

Last year was marked socially and politically by the coronavirus pandemic, as more than a million people died and billions were placed under lockdown. We discuss the impact the health crisis has had on global human rights with Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. We also address the root causes of police brutality in the US and France. Finally, we ask what more can be done to end the ongoing repression suffered by China's minority Uighur Muslims.

Growing your own food may not make you think of a laboratory where animal cells are transformed into cultured meat, but that is exactly what is now being served up, albeit to an elite few. Last month, Singapore granted approval to an American startup to sell the fruit of its laboratories in restaurants in the city-state. It's a new option for people who are not interested in vegetarianism. Jenny Kleeman, a journalist and the author of a book on how technology is impacting our lives, shares her perspective on it all. Her book is entitled "Sex Robots & Vegan Meat".

Home to an estimated quarter of the animal species and organisms on Earth, a place where food is both stored and grown and also a sizeable water purifier, soil plays many vital roles for humans but it is being destroyed. Ecologist Richard Bardgett tells us that one third of the soil around the world is degraded, sometimes beyond use. Smothered by cement or over-exploited by industrial agriculture, this rich resource which takes thousands of years to form can be destroyed within a few years. We ask our guest what policymakers and individuals can do about it.

Language is a system of communication, a means to be understood but it can also leave people feeling quite the opposite and excluded from society, especially when it comes to gender and identity. We're joined by author and scholar Emerson Whitney, the author of "Heaven", which looks at childhood, identity, the story of our bodies and how language shapes what we think of ourselves. Whitney, who uses the pronouns they/them, give us their perspective on where language fails some of us and where the current thinking behind our words comes from.

For years, parents of intersex babies – babies born with a combination of female and male biological characteristics – were encouraged to get "gender normalising" surgery. But intersex advocates are increasingly speaking out against what they say can be a damaging – and irreversible – practice. Ori Turner, who uses the pronouns they/them, is intersex. They spoke to FRANCE 24 alongside their mother Kristina Turner.