A wake-up call for humane leadership
by Vlatka Hlupic

This was the year everything changed. A tiny virus, arguably not even a life form, had a bigger global economic impact than the banking collapses a decade earlier. Ways of working have been transformed. Remote working has gone from being a fringe activity mostly confined to globally dispersed teams, to being accepted as the norm across whole sections of the economy. Sectors such as hospitality and aviation have suffered sharp falls in business, furloughed staff and redundancies[…]

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Provocation #2
Live with the virus

Might there soon be a medical breakthrough that eradicates COVID-19 from the face of the earth? In that case humankind will declare victory and move on. Or the pandemic might unleash new waves across the world, forcing stricter lockdowns and cratering economies beyond repair. More likely perhaps is that contagion will continue, and the world’s societies resolve to live with the risk in ways they have not considered so far. What will that compromise look like?[…]

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A Fierce Old Story: Fighting a Plague with Common Decency
by David Hurst

The rats gave the first clue: they staggered onto the streets, emitted a drop of blood from their noses and died in droves. As their bodies piled up, newspapers agitated, and citizens complained – why was the sanitation department not removing them? The rodents were collected and cremated and the citizens returned to their preoccupation with working hard and getting rich.[…]

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