Letter from the Editor
I’ve never been someone to invite change. When I was little, a few things happened that scrambled my comprehension that life was reliable and happy, and that things would follow a linear, if not uneventful, path until I perhaps fell in love, got married, had children, and offered my children the same love and security I was shown by my parents. Things like family bereavement and life-changing injuries. I never regarded the accusation of living a sheltered existence as much of an insult.
Amid the changes wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is at least one silver lining that eases my discomfort at losing simple pleasures, such as spending time with colleagues, and more important matters, such as hobnobbing around Mayfair, where’s office is situated (a postcode chock-a-block with my favourite people, places and things), and having my children fall into fits of giggles and excitement because “Daddy’s home”. Which is that we are all experiencing this shell-shock together. With our common dysfunction in service to a common goal, we have all learned new things and are almost certain to emerge with a fresh attitude and understanding of what normal life should be like. In lockdown it has been humbling to watch the extraordinary acts of courage, kindness and charity that people have shown. The knighthood given to Britain’s beloved Colonel Tom Moore — the war veteran who raised more than £32m for the National Health Service by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday in April — felt like the denouement of the first phase of our response.
