COVID-19 saw a world unprepared for a widespread viral outbreak. The outbreak began in China and at the beginning of 2020 was declared a pandemic, a large-scale threat to humanity by the World Health Organisation.

As cases and deaths in the UK escalated, the government on March 23rd 2020 ordered a stringent national lockdown of the country - including travel, together with the closure of bars, restaurants, non-essential shops, and schools. We stayed at home to save lives.

Coronavirus caused our normal way of living to be suspended temporarily, but one of the greatest things to come from it was the unmistakeable compassion people have for others. Panic buyers: the loo roll hoarders and people who didn't seem to see the need of social distancing abounded, however the stories of kindness greatly outweighed the ones of greed and selfishness.

Our sense of a common-belonging diminished; fewer meeting places; far and wide decaying high streets were a metaphor for national malaise, as internet retailers sucked the life out of bricks-and-mortar shops, closed by the pandemic lockdown.

While incomes in many democracies had risen for those at the top but not for those at the bottom, it made many furloughed citizens deeply pessimistic about their future. It is no surprise that debt became mountainous. It has been estimated at the time of writing (June 2023)  that most households owe on average £15,000, not counting their mortgages. The gap between the affluent and the  impoverished widened; the young are now worse off than their parents at their age; home ownership has declined steeply – families becoming stuck in life-long and precarious private renting due to rich investors, who, desperate for profitable openings, drove the prices of housing to historic heights.

Home alone lockdown took a disastrous effect on the nation's psyche. Mental health conditions increased worldwide, having a substantial impact on all areas of life, such as school or work performance, relationships with family and friends and ability to participate in the community.

A crisis of populism arose. The economy suffered as experts ceased to have any influence on decision making. Cracks  widened with the constant perversity of austerity.

The New Roaring Twenties?

Pushing England’s schools out of public control into semi-private academies and trusts in evidence-free reorganisations; playing fields sold off; post-pandemic children deprived of art, music and drama teaching have lost thatchance for ever, with only half of the country’s pupils sitting any arts exams.

Child poverty has soared to its highest level since before the Second World War.

Museums and libraries have suffered closures. As the public sphere shrinks, so does social focus, with less trust and neighbours not talking to one another.

Pub closures: premises were down by 15,000 by 2020, another loss of sociability. The UK population has got older, with no plan for the decade’s 25% increase in those aged over sixty-five. Social isolation, for many, is a frightening reality.

5G, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, virtual/augmented reality, and cybersecurity have taken a rapid and positive impact on improving the quality of life and experience. This convergence of technologies, innovations, and research harbours a lot of benefits, but it also conceals a multitude of negativity. Extremism will spread, mutate into new forms, the split will be between those who are able to embrace the country’s diverse future and those who fear it. And under stress, numerous ordinary people may decide they’ve had enough, and resolve to stand up to their governments. As witnessed by the current discontent around the globe, a heavy emotional toll is exacted on society as a whole.

The world today looks vastly different to what people expected it to look like in 2010, young people are deeply concerned about inaction in the face of change. Many are aghast at the world they will inherit and give voice to that anger via social media and protests.

By 2030, this writer opines with certainty, the decade will be prove to be quite different from what most expect today. Watch this space.