Will the 2020s be just as roaring?

As a new decade begins, Ed Power is reminded of how quickly a century slips by. In 1920, the global economy was recovering, technological wonders were revolutionising people’s lives and the far right was on the march. Sounds familiar...

To our grandchildren, the Twenties will now refer to the epoch in which Britain left the EU, Trump fought to retain the White House... and whatever comes next (AFP via Getty)

The world seems to spin faster than it ever has before. A wave of dazzling technological breakthroughs have transformed the lives of ordinary people. Old certainties are swept away. Excess is everywhere: you can practically inhale it. Has there been a better time to be young and footloose?

Shadows linger on the horizon, it is true. Intolerance is on the rise; emigrants have become an easy target for politicians chasing the chimera of populism. The White House is occupied by a “densely ignorant” Republican with a chequered personal life, specialising in meandering and contradictory public statements. Across the Atlantic, Britain is faced with the fracturing of the Union. Meanwhile, huge wealth disparities endure. For many, getting through the week is as much a challenge as in decades past.

But oh such distractions. The public thrills to a new class of celebrity whom they feel they know as well as they do their best friend. These are heady days for music, literature and film, where blockbuster entertainments are the order of the day. People are worked to the marrow but party as if time is running out. And time really is running out, though when this becomes finally clear it will be too late to do anything about it.