Whether it is with partners, family, friends, colleagues, or complete strangers, we all find meaning in our shared experiences. That drives us to form communities, both real and virtual, which bring us together with likeminded people who share our heritage, interests, political and religious beliefs, and more. In this edition of Overseas, we take a look at just a few of those communities, starting with the most local of all, our neighbours.
The loss of community spirit has often been bemoaned as something broken in today’s society. Particularly in cities, knowing your neighbours seems to increasingly be a thing of the past, but has the enforced lockdown revitalised neighbourliness this year? Abi Millar speaks to those helping and being helped by their local community.
This has largely been possible as many of us have made the shift to working from home. But while the benefits of homeworking have been widely extolled, it also poses challenges. How can remote workers ward against isolation and recapture the sense of camaraderie they might have experienced in the office?
While most major national and international sporting fixtures were postponed or cancelled for six months in 2020, many professional sportspeople and casual players turned to video games to keep in touch with their sporting community and still get their competitive fix. esports were already a growth industry before Covid but have seen exponential growth this year. Find out where video games fit into the sporting landscape.
Elsewhere, many of the freedoms the LGBTQ community enjoy today have been hard fought over decades of struggle, yet in some parts of the Commonwealth, the draconian laws imported during the colonial era that Britain itself has now moved on from, are still fervently applied. On page 10, Natalie Healey asks if progress is being made for the LGBTQ communities in these countries. As always, I hope you enjoy the issue and please get in touch with your comments or feedback.
Read the made-for-the-screen issue here.
