2020 Part II: The Suckening. I hate to be the bearer of less than Pollyanna-level optimism, but it’s fair to say that the first few weeks of 2021 have not manifested the worldwide system reboot that so many of us were fervently hoping for as the final fireworks faded over Sydney Harbour. The global cases, and deaths, from the COVID-19 pandemic are on the rise, and the fitful rollout of the first batches of vaccine is already creating new classes of crony healthcare in countries as diverse as India, Russia and the US where the wealthy get jabbed and frontline medical workers are fashioning masks out of garbage bags.