Why petulant oligarchs rule our world

SOME years ago – I think it was 2015 – I got a quick lesson in how easy it is to become a horrible person. I was a featured speaker at a conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and my arrival flight was badly delayed. The organisers, worried that I would miss my slot thanks to the city’s notorious traffic, arranged to have me met at the airport and flown directly to the hotel’s roof by helicopter.

Then, when the conference was over, there was a car waiting to take me back to the airport. And just for a minute I found myself thinking, “What? I have to take a car?”

By the way, in real life I mostly get around on the subway.