Life can feel like it’s a permanent race – at home, at work, in our society and across the globe. When Trump says  “America will start winning again”, he means others will lose. In the UK, we too are embarking on a new era of national self-interest. Decades of building international alliances, of striving to tackle global challenges together, are now unravelling as we enter the global race, even as it’s not clear what prize we’re striving for. Whatever we think we might win, it seems likely we’ll fail. In David Lammy’s words, on the post-EU world stage “other countries will hold a gun to our heads”.

Is life a zero-sum game? Do we need to do better than others to succeed, to be happy?

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