Hosted another smashing webinar in the “Hogg with Henley” series yesterday where the business school’s dean Jon Foster-Pedley was full value as always. No tech issues this time which may have been helped by the time (noon rather than last week’s 7pm) and the R500m Vodacom is investing to keep up with a 250% lockdown surge in demand on its fibre networks.
It was after Foster-Pedley’s prod that I pulled historian Yuval Noah Harari’s latest book from the “to read” pile. And have been loving every word of it – particularly the opening sentence which reads… “In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.” What follows in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is equally elegant.
The first chapter sets the standard where Harari explains how the rise of Donald Trump (and Brexit) signifies a “tidal wave of disillusionment” with liberal democracy. Harari’s assessment of the White House occupant is blistering. But he says facts won’t sway supporters for whom Trump can do no wrong, no matter how compelling the evidence.
So Trump’s decision yesterday to withdraw US funding of the World Health Organisation in its hour of greatest need is sure to be stoutly defended by one-eyed allies. The rest of us are simply bemused at a man who less than two months ago tweeted the WHO was “working hard and smart,” adding “the coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.” Ho Hum. At least he’s consistent in his inconsistency.
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