Why the Games must go on

IN a month's time, 11,000 elite athletes and 78,000 journalists, officials and staff will gather in Tokyo for the 32nd Olympic Games. With the sunk costs already tallied and coming up to at least US$15 billion, the Games must go on, the organising committee has decided. But the costs of staging an event of this scale continue to rise, not least inflated by massive Covid-19 preparations.

As Tokyo readies for the pandemic Olympics, we look at how the pluses and minuses add up, in Brunch this Saturday in The Business Times Weekend.

Michael Dell, founder and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, is optimistic about the post-pandemic future. Human beings will make the most of the situations they find themselves in, and much good will come out of that, he tells us in The Raffles Conversation.

No matter the asset class, Asia's sustainable investing landscape is clearly brimming with potential, and Singapore has made a strong start on demonstrating leadership. However, the path ahead could be fragmented as different industry standards gradually harden into set standards, writes our Investing With Impact columnist.

It may seem as if our lives today are moving at a snail's pace as we move gradually, with stops and starts, towards reopening. In The Winding Road, our columnist makes a valiant attempt to budge out of inertia.

And in Fine Print, our reviewer takes in the illustrious family history of one of Singapore's most prominent and powerful civil servants - Herman Hochstadt.

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