Normal was the problem

"WE CAN'T RETURN TO NORMAL, BECAUSE THE NORMAL THAT WE HAD WAS PRECISELY THE PROBLEM"

I can't vouch for the translation of this graffiti from Hong Kong that's doing the rounds, but the sentiment is spot on.

It's why I railed against a recent post on Linkedin by Mark Ritson. In it he said to take all predictions about our post-Covid world with a pinch of salt, as most things will go back to how they were once 'normal' returns.

My issue wasn't that I disagreed but feared he was right. That we will simply rush back unthinking to a model that has been sorely tested by the current situation and found wanting: a world held hostage by the neo-liberal agenda of the financial markets, with an individualist survival of the fittest as the guiding principle.

On this Easter Sunday, when the idea of rebirth and fresh starts is front of mind, now is surely the time to take stock; to look to the interconnected challenges the world faces, from poverty to climate change, and say 'we can do better'.

The question to ask is not HOW things WILL change but WHY things SHOULD change. And WHAT we're going to do differently as a consequence: to aspire collectively to a future that works for all rather than one that is designed to benefit the same old minority.