Martin Gilbert: The times they are a-changin'

What Bob Dylan can teach companies about social responsibility

Last week, Bob Dylan's original handwritten lyrics for The Times They Are A-Changin' went on sale for a cool $2.2m. Today, his song has never seemed more relevant.

As we struggle through the Covid-19 crisis, there is no doubt we are living through unprecedented times. Now that we are several weeks into lockdown, everyone is tired of hearing about the "new normal". But the phrase is ubiquitous because it is clear the times are indeed changing. And if we look beyond lockdown, we can begin to see the shape of a very different society. The coronavirus will leave deep economic scars. The UK's Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) released sombre forecasts - including a 35% fall in second-quarter GDP and a 13% slump for 2020 as a whole. That would be...