The Way Forward: A New Vision for the Future

Across the world, countries have imposed social distancing regulations to avoid overwhelming the health care capacity during the corona pandemic — the so-called “flatten the curve.” Such a policy can be sensible.

The first peer-reviewed cost-benefit analysis of the US shows just that. It looks at moderate social distancing, an approach similar to Sweden’s. Here, social interaction is reduced about 40 percent, allowing schools and work to stay open but dramatically reducing contacts in all other public areas.

If you listen to the media, a green automotive future has arrived and a tsunami of electric cars is out­selling petrol and diesel around the world, transforming the planet and solving climate change.

We need a reality check. Battery-powered electric vehicles are fairly popular in urban China and California, as well as a few countries that heavily subsidise their drivers. But globally, fewer than 0.3 per cent of all cars are pure electric, and across Europe, BMW says, customers don’t want them.

A global food crisis is looming because of Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine.

The two countries have been responsible for more than a quarter of the world’s wheat exports and big quantities of barley, corn and vegetable oil. On top of punishing climate policies and the world’s emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic, prices of fertilizer, energy and transport are soaring, and food prices have climbed 61 per cent over the past two years.