Recovery, Regeneration, Renewal
Jericho Notices - January 2021
New Year’s Resolutions have a sad habit of fading quickly. Let’s hope that 2021 is somehow different – the urgency of “hope” and “optimism” is widely shared, if perhaps not fully believed.
For those of us in the UK, Lockdown 3 has been billed as “the worst trilogy ever” but, beyond this, recovery, regeneration and renewal are surely possible. And that’s where the Jericho focus lies – how we can collectively build back better in a meaningful way, understanding that there is no “new normal”, just a constant state of flux and uncertainty through which we will have to journey together. Meanwhile, technology may help us but it will never save us; it is certainly not the panacea for our current predicaments. A better future lies with people and not just with algorithms and machines.
This edition of Jericho Notices will hopefully bring you up to speed with where we left off at the close of 2020 and what lies ahead. Here are some highlights – with plenty more coming soon…
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First up is the double-wicked challenge of COVID and Brexit, and the likely economic impact of both. A number of well-known commentators share their perspectives in this podcast and write-up from Jericho’s final conversation of 2020 – hosted with Stifel Europe CEO Eithne O’Leary, a couple of weeks before Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Layen shared their infamous fish supper and late-night telephone calls. Our guess is that the consequences of this double-whammy will reverberate for some time yet. More soon from the 2021 programme.
The vexed issue of “who pays & how?” emerged early in the pandemic, as governments across the globe initiated emergency measures to protect jobs and livelihoods. A summer roundtable series looking at the various stages of the pandemic response through the prism of responsible tax was hosted by KPMG’s Global Head of Tax Policy, Chris Morgan. There are a number of articles on the Jericho website – this report from an early December webcast, convened in partnership with KPMG International (with over 200 attendees from 35 countries), offers a helpful summary.
2021 sees the launch of a new initiative on Healthy Work, with the Jericho team working alongside bestselling business author, Margaret Heffernan, and Veronica Hope Hailey, Emeritus Professor, University of Bath. Expect some important challenges on what “good” work really means – and some pilot programmes to deliver this in practice. New research will add depth and insights into reformed corporate leadership in a post-COVID world. This programme is determined to break free of increasingly sterile Future of Work thinking.
Fewer Jericho programmes have been more timely (or important) as the work with Assura PLC on Public Health: In The Right Place? An incredible coalition of healthcare experts came together in an autumn series of roundtables, discussion and working groups to help think through new eco-systems for patient care – understanding the complexities and challenges of existing systems. Exciting new thinking is captured in this summary article – expect more from this programme in 2021, including some possible pilots to take thinking into action at a community level.
Young People have had a tough time in the past 12 months – the schools and exams fiasco(s) just one example of their COVID experience. The Spring/ Summer 2020 Jericho Conversations raised the challenge that we do not listen closely or well enough to the younger generations – and became the genesis for the Our Future Voice Now project, kindly supported by Barclays LifeSkills. Various inter-generational conversations on jobs & skills, mental health & wellbeing have been hosted, along with this initial podcast to gauge how young people are feeling about their futures. A summary report, due to be published shortly, will capture and share insights – and the programme will explore new dimensions as we move into spring 2021.
And what of our great cities as the recovery (post lockdown) finally gets underway? What of the UK’s global capital, London, and where it now sits within the government’s much-vaunted levelling-up agenda? Our contention is that optimism for the city is not yet a lost cause – understanding that many of the existential challenges existed before the pandemic and will endure thereafter – from changing work and transport patterns to the rise of AI and robotics and the shifting sands of retail experience. On behalf of Capital & Counties Properties PLC, a series of roundtables, conversations and publications will put London back in the spotlight – and be celebrated in an early summer edition of London Ideas, published by Centre for London.
The Our Heritage 2040 project ran across 2020, including an acclaimed publication and series of stakeholder roundtables. What started as an exercise in meaningful public engagement in Britain’s most easterly county quickly grew into a forum for exciting new ideas with national relevance and resonance. Pilot initiatives are now getting underway on Food Innovation, the Natural Habitat and Creativity, Culture & Inclusion. There is an exciting vision for each together with proof-of-concept programmes that will deliver ideas into practice – all set within the framework of an Energy Innovation Economy and recognising major corporate players as agents of social transformation.
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So, this is where we start 2021. And there is plenty more in the pipeline, for sure. Recovery, Regeneration & Renewal – as these many programmes illustrate – remain front-of-mind for Team Jericho and the communities with whom we collaborate. We have not lost our sense of optimism or hope – and hope you have not either. Please get in touch if you would like to work with us to engage with meaning – and help change your world and our world for the better.
Robert Phillips
Founder
Jericho Chambers
January 10 2021
