The McKay Interview

Michael McKay's guest is Professor Didier Pittet. He is  an infectious diseases expert of global reputation and the director of  the Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient  Safety at the University Hospital of Geneva, known locally as the HUG.

For  the past 15 years, he has also been the External Lead of the World  Health Organization (WHO) Global Patient Safety Challenge "Clean Care is  Safer Care" and African Partnerships for Patient Safety.

Jo Hemmings is Michael's guest this week. She is a  celebrated Behavioural Psychologist and a registered member of the  British Psychological Society and the Association of Clinical  Psychologists, specialising in media and celebrity analysis, as well as a  being a dating and relationship coach and, on top of that, a TV and  radio personality.

Jo is the Consultant Psychologist on ITV’s Good  Morning Britain and This Morning, two British TV shows, as well as the  BBC, Channel 4, C5 and Sky News. She also helps behind the scenes, in  the contestant selection process, by giving psychological advice and  assessment to reality TV producers and contestants.

She talks today about how society, politicians and countries are reacting to the pandemic.

On this week's McKay Interview, Michael speaks to Professor Simon Heffer  from the University of Buckingham in the UK on the media's role in  covering the Covid-19 crises.

Michael's guest this week is the Secretary-General of  the world’s largest police organization, Dr Jürgen Stock, of INTERPOL,  or to give it its full name, the International Criminal Police  Organisation. It is based in Lyon, France.

Dr Stock has been  Secretary General since 2014, and is now serving his second term. Prior  to that he was Vice-President of the German Federal Criminal Police. He  has a had a 40 year, distinguished career in law enforcement; and is  also Honorary Professor for Law and Criminology, in the Faculty of Law,  University of Giessen, in Germany.

The Covid-19 pandemic is the worst in 100 years. Apart  from the great tragedies inflicted upon many, many families all over the  world, it has thrown up a number of conundrums. Puzzles like the  scientific, the medical, the spiritual, the economic and many others.

Today, the 2nd June 2020, Michael is looking at COVID-19 through the prism of Economics.

Michael's  guest is Professor Emerita Victoria Curzon-Price. She was for many  years Professor of Economics at the University of Geneva and also at the  European Institute at that same university. Her areas of interest  include international trade, economic integration, institutional  competition and political economy. Previously she was president of the  Mont Pelerin Society . And she once, just over ten years ago, even  dipped her toe into the world of politics by being elected deputy to the  Canton of Geneva's Parliament.

Michael's guest is a brilliant and very thoughtful  member of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy faculty who has made a  study of global risk and resilience. In fact, that is his title. He has  been on the McKay interview before – two years ago - to explain what he  does. But this visit is different.

Dr Jean-Marc Rickli is a Swiss and I am delighted that he is able to join me again, though this time on Zoom.

On this week's McKay Interview, Michael  speaks to Dr David Heymann, one of the most prominent, contemporary,  epidemiologists in the world.

He also knows Geneva well, having spent 22 years at the World Health  Organization on secondment from the Centers for Disease Control &  Prevention, in Washington, D.C. He now works in London.

Michael McKay's guest this week is Pierre Ruetschi who  has many years of experience in the field of journalism, especially in  “international” Geneva, where he was for many years the Editor-in-Chief  of Geneva’s own newspaper, the Tribune de Genève. Nowadays, he is the  Director of the Geneva Press Club; and still writes for various journals  and appears regularly on radio and television.

Many European countries are now lifting lockdowns. The economic impact of the pandemic has been huge - and is still going on.

The  Director-General of the Geneva based International Labour Organisation,  Guy Ryder, spoke to Michael McKay about jobs, business and the ongoing  crises which will be with us for sometime to come.

Michael's guest this week is a distinguished academic and scientist  with more than half a century’s experience of his discipline behind him.  Today is the 30th April 2020 and Dr. Charles Jefford, Professor  Emeritus of Organic Chemistry at the University of Geneva, is at the  other end of a Zoom microphone and screen because we are still in  COVID-19 lockdown mode and cannot meet face to face.

Professor  Jefford is a graduate of the Universities of Oxford and Princeton as  well as Visiting Professor at the Universities of Strasbourg, Marseille,  Princeton, and in Japan, the Universities of Kyushu and Ryukyus.