Coronavirus has changed our world. Suddenly we face a stark choice: distance or death
Jobs seen as lowly are now recognised as key, and nationalising the railways is no longer controversial. Many things we thought were true a few weeks ago no longer are
All the things that were taken to be self-evident a couple of weeks ago are no longer so. That is how fast this epidemic is spreading. Having known liars in charge of telling us the truth – whether Boris Johnson or Donald Trump – does not help. “Truth is mighty and will prevail,” said Mark Twain, before adding: “There is nothing wrong with this, except it ain’t so.”
It certainly ain’t so and what we are seeing is mass cognitive dissonance. That is the stress produced when people seek some kind of consistency between how they think life is and what we
