The Roaring ’20s was the glittering, glamorous exemplar of all that. It arrived on the back of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, heralding a decade that became famous for its Art Deco aesthetic, its freedoms, music, dance, literature and a lust for exquisite jewels, fashion, travel and parties. If the soul of this period was energy and speed, its mantra was ‘live with a vengeance’.
Now, as the 21st-century coronavirus looks to book into post-pandemic rehab, social commentators are predicting a new ‘Roaring ’20s’.
Already there are synchronicities: the proliferation of new technologies, a fuel revolution, political polarisation, international rivalries and a volatile stock market. Other parallels include strong consumer demand, worker shortages, lower tax rates, reduced business regulation, and tensions between science and religion. But the gossamer thread that pulls the two decades together most tightly is
