Reading across the articles in this CT Brief, it’s hard not to emerge with a slight sense of ‘stuckness’ about where we are as a society; the phrase from one article about it being one of the sector’s most challenging eras resonated with us.

On one hand, we have political – and ethical – imperatives about sustainability, in the form of net zero targets for example in housing, and energy efficiency and climate change climbing up the risk register rungs. Yet the challenges of scale and cost seem to extend beyond the ken and wherewithal of organisations working in isolation and having to balance priorities of value. One can feel this yawning gap as an individual too, dutifully sifting recycling while the news headlines transmit global alarm of the latest floods or fires into the living room.

Old certainties are eroded: the transferred council housing stock becoming merged into something geographically diffused, the polarisation of opinions where the space for nuance and listening is squeezed – the call for kindness is timely.

Perhaps we can be buoyed by the determination to learn against this background – to not give up, to form new relationships and approaches, and to somehow care about how things get done. We see a strong call for collaboration across organisations and sectors in this Brief. The kind of leadership we need to navigate these challenges needs to look outside and elevate above itself, be generous, motored by hope and courageously honest about what no longer works.