The Question – The next 25 years?
Note – This was written before the General Election
It’s impossible to say what the world will look like in 2044, but one thing is certain it will look quite different. This ‘The Question’ is not about predicting what might happen in the next quarter of a century, but the challenges and changes which face us and our world.
The big topic at the moment is climate change and with the Paris agreement just over a decade away, I believe meeting the minimum two-degree target is a very ambitious target. This requires all of us to make changes, that is going to be a big challenge.
The past few years our world has been shaped by populism, whether that be Brexit or Donald Trump, while the right-leaning parties have gone righter and the left more to the left. I am a member of a left-leaning party, but the question for all countries and parties who are we?
This has prompted questions about the world order which we have had since the end of the second world war. I believe it’s the fear we all naturally have of change, but we do need some change in our lives and that can be difficult.
The growing overriding thing is the power of the under 30s, we are more independent-minded and more able to use the new platforms which are developed in the last few years. The legacy of people my age won’t be fully felt I believe until we take control.
I feel the next big global change will be fuelled by access to information via the internet and the freedom to access information. But this presents the challenge of accountability, I often wrote of the power of young or the marginalised.
What is the future of democracy in the UK? Is it time to create not only national parliaments but further devolve powers to the city regions. This is a very new form of government, but one I hope can become more powerful as I believe working for more cross council in say a region is important to create jobs, transport and other big projects.
I see this as difficult to first engage with local politics from my experience, but we need to as politicians and activists need to look at the broad post-Brexit question. Who are we and what kind of country do we want to live in?
he technology we use will change radically, already in my lifetime we have gone from big hard drives and dial-up, to mobiles and we are nearing the next big step with 5G. This is controversial because of a Chinese law which requires companies to give any information it has to the government when asked, prompting fears that companies like Huawei could be used to spy.
Another challenge I often hear discussed in the church is the role of newly retired. These are vital to voluntary organisations like our café, the issue also is with young people as we tend to get caught up in other things and personal life’s. But it poses a challenge to how these places can survive.
If we are all living longer, should the retirement age increase, I believe it should stay where it is because we need people who are able to run voluntary organisations. But if we are to work into our seventies, how are these places meant to keep going as people age.
In my lifetime the rights of LGBTQ+ people have come along way, we now have same-sex marriage in twenty-eight countries, however seventy countries it remains illegal and I believe that the challenge is to get the remaining anti-gay laws repealed in all countries.
This is a big challenge; one I would love to see happen when and if I look back on this in twenty-five years and say we done it. Nowhere in the world has anti-gay laws, but I think it’s unlikely in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Muslim countries.
The future of how we consume media has changed, we know that newspapers and linear TV is declining I have often written about the challenges of this. But the next big jump I believe will be in VR TV, while we will continue to have the TV at the centre of our living and bedrooms what they are will be different.
I believe the standard Freeview areal TV will die out, we will move towards internet streaming. This has challenges, most of our countries telephone network which is built on Victorian copper cables. It’s going to be a challenge to create a network for the twenty-first century.
In another post recently I wrote about 5G and Huawei, but we need a network of 5G and Wi-Fi which gives us full coverage. However, the first challenge is getting rural communities’ up to the standards we have in the big cities.
How do we work, the model of what we do is continuing to evolve over time. With technology does that allow people to work more flexibly from home, hours which suit them. But it is not possible in all professions, it could be that we only say go into the office once or twice a week. That may cause damage to peoples mental health, if there loan working five days a week they may not get out.
The other thing we face is keeping the memory of the first part of the 20th century alive. This is important because, at the time when our world is divided, racism and antisemitism are on the rise I believe is not simply because of Brexit, Trump or the far right/left, its because I believe these leaders have made it ok to say these things.
It’s important we remember these events from the past, but also the events of the last five years as they will define the type of world, we live in. as our world is so divided for various reasons, many the shaking of the established order. I think we are in that period where we need to remind our self of how these events are changing the world.
I have concerned that leaders like Johnstone, Trump, Bolosnro, are fuelling these anti-immigrant, right-wing views. But while I believe these leaders have tapped into the forgotten, that creates a challenge for the centre between left and right.
Transport is another area where we are going to see a big change, we are starting to see a shift towards both bi-mode and fully electric cars. That creates a challenge, how can we integrate charging points into our busy towns and cities.
We also need to look at how we create energy, for centuries we have relied on burning something, whether it be coal, wood or rubbish to create electric for around a hundred and fifty years. This we know has resulted in climate change, we need sustainable energy.
Part of that will need to be lifestyle changes, we need to make small changes to help look after our world. But, this means bridging the every growing division between those who have and those who don’t. I believe that is a huge task to overhaul the centauries old class system, tackling that is one of the biggest challenges.