The world has, for better or worse, been changed as never before – or so much of the commentary would lead us to believe. Blogs abound on how we will ‘never go back’ – whether to our now archaic practices of actually needing to be together in a room to get our jobs done, or to our isolationist / polluting / capitalist / other (delete as appropriate) practices that led us to this place. The civil service will be grappling with modelling, planning and risk-management in the midst of these competing visions of the future. Scenario planning is important, and I expect many of my colleagues are taking sensible steps to stress-test policy choices against different assumptions about what is to come. How willing will teachers be to return to the classroom? How might the value of education change now that we’ve all had a taste of home-schooling? My only reflection here is not to underestimate the force of habit; the ability we all have to revert to earlier behaviours and choices, because they’re comfortable, because they work, because it’s what we’ve always done. New Years’ Resolutions are a minor example – that hangover, that ‘never again’ feeling, lost within a few days or weeks. I’m no behavioural science expert, but I know from personal experience that even a pretty major health scare, one that makes you promise to completely change your routine if only you get the all-clear, can quickly fade from memory. The effort to change your ways, is just that: an effort. I hope that the optimistic and opportunity-driven predictions come true – that we can and do re-build better – and that the doomsday scenarios prove unfounded. But both outcomes will take concerted and consistent effort. The civil service, like all of us, will need to be active in learning the lessons of lockdown, to set conscious goals to ensure we act on that learning and don’t just fall back into old habits. Unless of course, those habits, like hugging each other when we meet, were good.