Society

The term Arctic itself is misleading. It sounds like a region. It is in fact a big part of the planet of continental size. If you add all the Arctic areas up – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the Nordics, and Russia – it's almost the size of Africa. Imagine if it was only 30 years ago when we discovered Africa!

Former President of Iceland (1996-2016)

Online trolling and abuse is a real problem now. A lot of people who want to express an opinion now are fearful that they'll get piled-on. And there's no real immunity from it: Zadie Smith's brilliant New Yorker story 'Now More Than Ever' is really an expression of her terror of the arbitrary possibility of being judged by a moralistic internet pile-on, of being as they say cancelled.

British comedian, writer, and television personality; co-founder of Fantasy Football League

I first heard about Twitter through a journalist friend of mine called India Knight. She said, 'it's fantastic, like a cocktail party where all of your best friends have turned up!'- she was right, it was like that, for about 15 seconds.... It did feel like a lot of people I knew were being really nice and just chatting on this thing... as if Silicon Valley had come up with a digitised, virtual version of a pleasant conversation!

British comedian, writer, and television personality; co-founder of Fantasy Football League

We have taught them they are American, Indian or African. Children have never created borders, religions, faiths or caste systems. Children have not been responsible for wars and divisions in society- we did that… and now we're imposing on our children, from their birth, a divisive image of who they are. We need to learn from children, and learn simplicity, forgiveness and the beauty of life.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor

We have come to consider children as either being exploited or subject to charity; we hardly ever consider them as the equal human beings they are, born with certain inalienable rights. We must strengthen our notion of children's rights within our cultures and societies.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor

In our market-economy, consumers have the power. I also believe that almost every consumer has an element of compassion in herself or himself. If they are educated and sensitised about the existence of child-labour directly, I hope they use their consumer-power and translate it into pressure and change in corporate behaviour.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor

The rights of children are not yet acknowledged as the key driver for human progress and development and hence they are not getting priority in economic, social or political discourse.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor

We see two different constituencies of children. One group who enjoys their childhood, and others who are deprived of their fundamental right to be children.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor

Fundamentally, where creativity is concerned, people are trying to express an idea or solve a problem. This applies in business, the arts, or even solving family or societal problems.

Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

People need to have access to mental health services right on their doorstep; where they live, where they learn, where they go to work, where they go to worship.

Just take a look for example, at NFL players with pink socks, bringing their babies on the field. You would never have seen that just 10 years ago. The culture is changing as we speak.

Nobody should ever feel isolated, or like they have nowhere to turn. Whether it's at school, home, or in the workplace. Nobody should ever feel a cultural burden of silence around mental health challenges.

The first and most important part of tackling mental health challenges is to drive cultural change. If you don't change the culture around mental health- people will continue to be stigmatised, people will continue to stay silent, people will not seek the help they need.

It shocks me that our society has not caught up with the fact that mental illnesses should be treated like any other disease, and not relegated to the justice system. We have so many different therapies and medicines, and people can make significant recoveries.

Right now, only 2% of Europeans have studied outside of their home country – I would want to raise that to 45%. The provincialism that reigns in so many countries would be considerably lessened if it was just considered normal that you would spend at least a year in some other country.

Former President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer

Portugal is generally perceived as a symbol of tolerance, openness to the world and ability to interact with and serve as a bridge to different societies, cultures and religions.

Former Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)