Narrative Archive

“Against the capitalist creeds of scarcity and self-interest, a plan for humanity’s shared flourishing is finally coming into view” – one that places planetary and human wellbeing front and centre.

Apparently one in four Brits now believe in Qanon theories. This robust and data rich study is a useful guide to the phenomenon and the threats it poses.

Continuing the ‘being not doing theme’, Vigliar investigates the transformative role of narrative in the indigenous cultures that safeguard life, and encourages us all to connect with our own indigeneity.

North Face goes all Patagonia with a pledge to “challenge ourselves, our athletes and everyone” to “be the change we seek”, fronted by Lena Waith & Alex Honnold.

Sky News host Rowan Dean says the next World Economic Forum in Davos has morphed from a “jet-setter climate gabfest” into a sinister “anti-democratic enterprise designed to destroy your job, steal your prosperity and rob your kids of a future”.

This is an old narrative. Francis Bacon (devout Anglican) put it similarly when he said: "Nature must be ‘bound into service’ and made a ‘slave,’ put ‘in constraint’ and ‘molded’ by the mechanical arts." You may scoff at it, but a version arguably sits at the heart of our economic narrative today.

An argument in favour of carbon pricing, but it begins with: “worrying about the state of the environment in the middle of a pandemic might feel like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.” Yes, that way around.

Grassroots or ‘astroturf’? Either way, this 2018 effort is back, using appropriately compelling voices to encourage people to leave the democratic party.

Useful insight for tackling reactionary narratives, wherever they try to offer people a false sense of agency. Also worth checking out Ash Ambridge’s excellent and hilarious suggestion for how Biden should have ‘8-miled’ Trump at the first debate.

We’re seeing more and more framing around ‘care’ as an organising narrative, and this is a good example. As we think about resetting our economy in this moment, it clearly needs to be prioritised.

A quick, thread, unpacking some of the underhanded tactics at play in this moment of unprecedented (Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year, taking bets now) uncertainty.

Suggestions include making the possibility of change maximally credible, showing, not telling, what the blind pursuit of growth is, and focusing on attracting broad support, "with few people from every social group - rather than all people in one social group."