In a world threatened by chaos, the centre must hold Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…. — W.B. Yeats

TODAY’S WORLD FACES immense and growing challenges. Trump’s impulsiveness and Putin’s aggression are contributing to a sense of global anarchy similar to that of which Yeats warned us.

Their pincer movement targets the sovereignty of states, international law and the prioritisation of diplomacy over military solutions. It threatens the complex, hard-won, imperfect order that the world struggled hard to build up since the Second World War.

Two mistakes should be avoided. First, we should avoid allowing our attention to be entirely consumed by Trump’s daily antics, deliberately designed — like the algorithms of TikTok and Facebook — to burrow their way into our heads and to take up our headspace. It’s tough to avoid, of course, as there are real-life consequences of his erratic presidency. Instead, we should focus primarily on the deeper underlying issues at stake.

Second, we should avoid surrendering to pessimism. Optimism is not a whimsical luxury. It’s a necessary policy. We have a duty to ourselves and to our children to work relentlessly to ensure that the centre can indeed hold, and with the firm conviction that our aim is achievable.

A constantly evolving series of impulsive Trump initiatives around the world insinuates itself into our consciousness on a daily........

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