From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Think of it this way: you wouldn't hand someone car keys without briefing them about potential car troubles, right? Yet, with women, it feels like we're just careening through our reproductive experiences, unguided. We have women experiencing miscarriages in A&E, waiting alongside patients with diverse emergencies. In such critical moments, timely intervention with progesterone could potentially save thousands of babies annually.
I assumed this was just a fact of life in the UK, but because I saw the warmth of some people's welcome in the business community in particular, I overlooked it…
There are situations that we could potentially change. However, due to habituation, we might not notice them as much. This also applies to societal issues like racism or sexism—because they've been present for so long, we might not notice them as much and therefore feel less motivated to address them.
Social media has decreased distance and that means that we are just as passionately bothered about things on the other side of the world, as we are things in our home town. Social media transparency has had, and is having, a huge impact on stakeholder visibility.
When they went to work, it wasn't that they were selling out but rather the intention of human beings to chase things… material stuff… come out of the ghetto… achieve… they wanted their own reflection in pop culture… they didn't want any of this YMCA, Patrick Juvet's – I Love America or any of these disco records that were out…. they didn't want to listen to that on black radio, it was insulting…. so they made their own.
Influencers wield enormous influence, and sometimes, this can manifest negatively. The spread of anti-vaccination rhetoric, the reluctance to use sunscreen, and the rise of conspiracy theories like QAnon can be profoundly damaging.
Your attention hasn't collapsed, it's been stolen from you by big forces. Once we understand those forces, we can begin to build meaningful solutions.
Most people we have worked with who have accomplished great things have an other-centred purpose, and that's never just 'make a lot of money…' – it could be to make women's lives easier, to close the inequality gap, to change the world, it's something which isn't strictly personal and selfish.
Few have the boldness to assert, 'Not my circus, not my monkeys,' choosing to focus on select issues rather than superficially ticking off an extensive list.
We cannot focus only on the material aspects of poverty- we must address the poverty of spirit that's present in every one of our broken institutions: health systems, economic systems, criminal justice systems, and food systems.
Contemporary photography is quite exploitative – and looks at people as objects in a display-case rather than as individuals with whom we have a shared common humanity, connection, and solidarity. Photography has gone from I am part of this, to look at this.
People come to Glastonbury and can try out ways of living that can be rolled out across the country. If we can make a change at the festival, then why not across a whole city like Oxford, it's the same size!