Politics and the media

Democracy, so it has often been said, showcases the best in society. Its free market control and fair elections place an emphasis on personal choice. The state acts in a supervisory role, encouraging and strengthening us like a schoolteacher would a young child. Authoritarianism on the other hand, is painted as the polar opposite, evoking thoughts of an intimidating Stalinist USSR and in contemporary times, the reticent state of North Korea. But right now, as the major institutions in the UK weaken in front of our eyes and our freedom of speech is threatened, maybe these aren't so mutually exclusive as we have been led to believe. When reading bad news in the media, I often comfort myself with the thought that the notable tragic events making headlines aren't comparable to the unreported positivity that humankind demonstrates every day. And that is true, for it is easy to get lost in a cycle of negativity, focusing on events that illustrate the worst in how people behave. Avoid...

When starting a piece about the past year, COVID-19 needs no more than mentioning, unless you've been living under, not a rock, but an asteroid. It has characterised the world in a way that few problems have the capacity to do.  The development of a vaccine that will define 2021 will not cause anywhere near the same furore, because it heralds a major breakthrough in the biggest challenge of the 21st century. But, and there is a huge but, it will only change the lives of developed nations, whose vaccine nationalism will embody the stark inequality that many a Western liberal will claim they care about addressing.    One would hope that, in times of adversity, the human race comes together as one to act in the good of all (see the narrative behind the two World Wars). Yet history has a way of simultaneously glorifying the unforgettable and erasing the torment it causes.  No doubt in years to come, when life has returned to normalcy, we will look back on the past year, ...