Opener / Global
Time to hit play
We all had a little too much pause for thought in 2020 but we think that now’s the time to change the routine, launch that new business and push on. Our February issue offers 50 suggestions to improve your life and livelihood as well as the liveability of our cities.
The past 12 months have been tougher than many of us had hoped. But in the spirit of bringing fresh resolutions, positivity and pressing on after a year of stubborn and frustrating pauses, we decided to forego the usual format of our February issue and bring you 50 silver linings, canny case studies and smart ideas to get you going again.
We’ve stuck fast to our sense of journalistic optimism and opportunity to commission ideas that we think will help to make 2021 a year when people, firms, cities and nations stepped up and hit play on big ideas. We meet a head of state looking to recharge Greece’s image abroad, visit an Osaka library showing the next chapter in literacy for children, and a strip in Melbourne offering the world’s beleaguered high streets some tips for surviving and winning passionate fans.
As well as the bigger-picture stories, we’ve plotted new ways to work (be it literally, by scooter, or with some innovative office designs), plus a wardrobe update and ideas for new regimes and routines to improve your health and heighten your happiness. There’s also some concepts, escapism and ideas. We meet a Moroccan homeware brand putting vivid colour into its work and an entrepreneur cleaning up by reviving bathhouse culture, and we’ve even imagined what a modern kibbutz might look like. In 2021 we can be better, kinder and nicer: it could even be a turning point. Don’t believe us? Let us show you.
Here’s how to hit play:
Our 50-strong line-up features ideas and inspiring stories, businesses to back, insights to absorb and recommendations to follow. The light’s green, so shall we get going?
