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As I come to the end of my first year at NEF and the end of another tumultuous year for the UK and the world, I have been reflecting on the difference between ​‘optimism’ and ​‘hope’.

As you may have seen, earlier this year I published a book, Power to the People, about how citizen action can change the world for the better and make this the century of the citizen. In interviews and events about the book, I am often asked how I remain steadfastly hopeful in troubled world and whether I am naïve to be so optimistic. My answer often involves something that lies at the heart of NEF’s approach. For me, an optimist thinks things will get better, whereas those of us who are hopeful think that things can change and often work tirelessly to show that another world is possible.

So much of what we have been doing at NEF is based on this premise. Yes, the way that we have chosen to organise our societies and economies is extractive, unsustainable and increasingly dangerous. But yes too, that we can change the way that we do things by re-writing the rules to make our economies fairer, more democratic and sustainable.

This is the golden thread that runs through so much of NEF’s work, whether that is our campaign to secure more rights and protections for renters, our work on advocating for the government to adopt a frequent flyer levy to make polluters pay and cut aviation emissions, or our campaign to put economic power in the hands of local communities.

I see it also in our groundbreaking work to show how regional economies can become less extractive, how the welfare state can deliver a living income and how internationally agreed tax on the ultrawealthy could curb inequality and raise precious resources.

And this is also the golden thread that runs through NEF’s emerging strategy. Our ambition is to help deliver an economics than can underpin a fast and fair transition to net zero, that can help renew the foundations of the public goods and services that most of us rely on, and that can devolve meaningful economic and political power to people.

We may be living in dark times but it is this conviction that we can deliver a radically better world that I know drives my amazing colleagues at NEF, the wonderful partners we work with and those who support our work.

Danny Sriskandarajah, NEF chief executive

Image: iStock