“Comparisons are odious, as the saying goes, and yet we all like making them. In fact, we like them so much that drawing comparisons has become a way of gaining visibility in the media and social networks, a way of claiming a place in the world and even, sometimes, a way of making a living. When comparisons are systematic and quantified and seek to encompass all countries (or all the companies in a sector, or all the universities in the world, or any other comparable subject) they are known as rankings or indices and innumerable examples of them have been produced in recent years. One of the most recent is the GRID Index (Global Response to Infectious Diseases, GRIDTM), drawn up in Australia, which seeks to compare the quality of countries’ responses to COVID-19. Spain is ranked last by this index, a fact that has been widely reported in the Spanish media, whether as ammunition in the internal political debate or to show once again how willing we Spaniards are to talk badly about our own country. Following its initial success in the media, the index has lost credibility die to its inconsistencies.”
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