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“It is time to put global conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives”.  The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, live-streamed this appeal

to the world as Britain was going into lockdown. The Coronavirus pandemic could “open precious windows to diplomacy” and help create “corridors for life-saving aid,” he said. A former

Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth office, the Rt. Hon. Alistair Burt in a paper to the Defence and Security Forum has recently elaborated on the possibilities inherent in the

Guterres appeal. Alistair Burt’s thinking derives from his experience of the Middle East with its intractable conflicts, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, US-Iran, Israel-Palestine-Iran. No-one

can make concessions or they will lose face or appear to be weaker than their opponent. No-one trusts their adversary as a negotiating partner. A bitter stalemate prevails. A ladder to climb

down would be a game-changer. Covid-19 offers one to the warring parties, Burt suggests. The belligerents face the uncontrolled spread of the virus. The combatants can cease fire and

co-operate or many more will die. “All win or all lose.” Years ago I travelled from Jordan into Israel by what was then called the Allenby Bridge. There was a hold-up. I watched ambulances

pull up on each side of the bridge. A patient from the Jordanian ambulance was carried out on a stretcher and handed over to the Israeli ambulance crew. The two ambulances moved off. It

somehow summed up the divisions in the Holy Land but also how the medical world in its basic humanity and solidarity can overcome them. But Guterres’s appeal and Burt’s diplomatic vision,

though, go wider than this. The pandemic is what in biblical Greek would be called a _Kairos _moment — a time of great danger but also of great opportunity and possibility for fresh vision.

The combination of authoritarian rule and advanced cyber-technology combine to create a great sense of danger. China is using the pandemic to further entrench the surveillance of its

population. But China’s willingness to share its Covid-19 expertise with other countries also provides the opportunity to develop co-operation. “These days of pain are bringing many hidden

problems to the surface,” Pope Francis tweeted recently.  Coronavirus has cast an extraordinary spotlight both on the importance of good governance, and on the impact of inequality and

poverty on health. Only in democracies can citizens hold their governments to account and know with some certainty what is happening. Inequality and poverty cause poor health outcomes

wherever you live. While we in Britain count the number of ventilators in thousands, doctors across Africa are working with much less. The world’s refugee settlements are even more in need

of international support. The realisation is dawning that “we are all in this together” when it comes to health, and that this should be the basis for policy. When Coronavirus is finally

under control, there will be a moment for renewed vision, an opportunity for changing direction. The choices are obvious. Either persist in an economics that disadvantage the poor, or an

economics “as if people mattered”; either promote a nationalist “beggar your neighbour” foreign policy, or foster international co-operation; either build walls to keep desperate refugees

out, or take a consistent fair annual quota. Government emphasis on being “in this together” must apply _a fortiori_ to climate change. Before Coronavirus, the idea that lifestyles must

become simpler seemed either utopian or were criminally ignored by governments, depending on your viewpoint. Now that lifestyle change has been imposed on us by the pandemic. We didn’t

choose clean air — it is the bi-product of economic collapse. Is it utopian to believe that having been forced to cut our carbon-based energy use we might in future choose to do so with a

new determination? Will Alistair Burt’s ladder also provide a way down for Trump, and the less obvious foot-draggers, from blocking action against climate change? Our choices are becoming

more obvious — but it does not follow we will necessarily make the right ones.  Now is the time for all people of good will, leaders of the faith communities, International NGOs, campaigning

organisations and governments that treasure social democracy and a just international order, to create the kind of coalition that can ensure that the right choices are made. “Beggar my

neighbour” or a genuine “Politics of Solidarity”? The G20 Riyadh meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia this November could be the first place for such a coalition to make a major impact on the

post-Coronavirus world.