The trouble with cities

With an election looming in November, President Donald Trump's response is of a leader cornered by cascading public anger

Cities, it is said, are the crucible of opportunity, the engine of progress. They are places where fortunes are made and talents flourish; the fount of governance. But events have lately turned this wisdom on its head. Cities are being seen as simmering cauldrons of disease, social injustice, poverty, and police atrocity — the darkest cesspools of despair. Two recent events, two months apart, are triggers of how cities can wreak countrywide havoc.

On the eve of March 25, Narendra Modi took the nation by utter surprise with his sudden announcement of a three-week lockdown. Neither Mr Modi nor his government