Inside The Economist’s The World Ahead: Tom Standage on Global Trends

On December 8, the editor of The Economist's "The World Ahead," Tom Standage joined me for what has become an annual conversation about the popular predictive issue. We began with Tom presenting his Top Ten Trends for 2026, followed by questions from the audience and concluded with a special treat where we played Hello All Stations, an original composition by Sebastopol, the alt-rock band. Tom is the drummer. I learned, too, that this is one of the two bands where Tom plays, the other being one made up of colleagues at The Economist. This interview was first aired for a live audience made up primarily of members of World Affairs Councils from across the country. It was produced and hosted by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut.