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DOUBLE ISSUE A PRIL 11 / A PRIL 18, 2022
AMAZON
LAUNCHES
INTO A
NEW ERA
CEO Andy Jassy
CONTENTS
9
The Brief
27
The View
36
Ukraine’s
Quartermasters
On the road with the largest ever
transfer of U.S. arms to another
country—and the foreign volunteers
showing up to ight
By Simon Shuster
Plus: Ukrainian women battle behind
the lines By Amie Ferris-Rotman
44
Capitol Hill Local 535
Congressional staffers trying to
unionize are also testing the sincerity
of Democratic lawmakers
By Abby Vesoulis
50
On the Trail
A retired insurance-claims
investigator is determined to igure
out who’s shooting wild horses in an
Arizona forest
By Marisa Agha
56
A Quest for Justice
Lawyer Karuna Nundy’s crusade to
outlaw marital rape in India
By Astha Rajvanshi
61
Most Inluential
Companies 2022
TIME’s annual list of 100 businesses
charting the future
91
Time Of
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11 – 20162 Milano; aut. Trib. MI N. 491 del 17/9/86, poste Italiane SpA - Sped. in Abb. Post. DL. 353/2003 (conv. L.
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and in the foreign countries where TIME magazine circulates. ISSN 0928-8430.
3
FROM THE EDITOR
Companies that
shape the world
ONE YEAR AGO, WE LAUNCHED TIME BUSINESS, A NEW FRAN-
chise devoted to exploring the growing inluence of business not
only on our economic lives but also as a force shaping society and
our collective future. Led by executive editor John Simons, we’ve
chronicled everything from the future of work to how American
shoppers broke the supply chain. We’ve brought you inside the
C-suites with interviews of major igures in the business world
through our weekly Leadership Brief, and inside the rise of crypto
and NFTs through staf writer Andrew R. Chow’s Into the Meta-
verse newsletter.
Along the way, business has grown from a very small portion of
Business our coverage to about one-ifth of all the content we publish. That’s
as it should be. From the vaccines that are pulling the world out of
is a force not the worst depths of the pandemic to the unprecedented withdrawal
only in our of Western companies from Russia as a tool of war, business has
never had a greater impact. And certainly not always for the good, as
economic relected in Billy Perrigo’s ongoing reporting on the all-too-frequent
lives, but prioritization of proits over people in the tech world.
also in our YOU CAN SEE all that on display in our second annual TIME100
collective Companies list, included in this issue and featuring the world’s
future most inluential businesses. Some, like pharmaceutical upstart
Moderna and space-junk removal irm Astroscale, are pushing the
boundaries of technology in new and potentially world-changing
ways. Moderna is developing new mRNA vaccines for a host of
pathogens, while Astroscale is developing technology to safely de-
orbit satellites after their useful lives are over.
Others, like United Airlines and Capital One, took bold steps
and dared their rivals to follow: United was the irst major U.S.
airline to issue an employee vaccine mandate, while Capital One
recently became the irst of its peers to eradicate overdraft and
insuicient-fund fees, which so often punish those with the least
ability to pay them. Disrupters like Engine No. 1 and AMC, mean-
while, are changing the rules. As Vivienne Walt reports in this
issue, Engine No. 1 is quickly becoming the premier activist irm of
the climate-capitalism movement, while AMC’s Adam Aron wrote
the book—in real time—on how to respond to becoming a “meme
stock,” by courting younger, digitally savvy investors to keep the
company aloat. Still others, like Alphabet and Ford, are titans
whose sheer size and scope make them inluential by nature.
“Taken together, these 100 companies—and the executives who
run them—represent the irms and leaders who are charting an
essential path forward,” says senior editor Alex Fitzpatrick, who
oversaw the list. As TIME’s business coverage continues through-
out the year, these are the companies we’ll be watching most
closely—and we suggest you do the same.
Edward Felsenthal,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & CEO
@EFELSENTHAL
TIME in Dubai
At the irst ever TIME100
Impact Awards and Gala,
TIME honored individuals
who have done extraordinary
work to shape the future of
their industries and the
world at large. The awards
ceremony, attended by 200
guests, was held on March 28
at Dubai’s Museum of the
Future—the venue’s irst
marquee event. Read and
watch full coverage of the
event at time.com/impact
A L I N R A Z VA N — PA U S E F I L M S (2); I G O R M O S K A L E N K O — PA U S E F I L M S (2); C H A R I S M A A N D R E A D U L O C A S I N O — PA U S E F I L M S
TIME100 Impact Award recipients
include Bollywood star Deepika
Padukone, above left; singer Ellie
Goulding, left; philanthropist Tony
Elumelu, top right; and artist and
entrepreneur will.i.am, above, with
actor and advocate Kat Graham
TA L K T O U S
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UNIFIEDPOST –
Blue Sky Thinking
Small businesses are the lifeblood of the global economy. In fact,
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were responsible for
44% of economic activity in the United States in 2019, according
to the Small Business Administration, while the European Union
calculates that they are responsible for most of the new job creation
across its member states. SMEs operate in every single industrial
segment, but it is this very diversity that makes it almost impossible
for anyone to sell to them as a homogenous group. Hans Leybaert,
Founder and CEO of Unifedpost
P
erhaps it takes one to know one, but that is paper-based to automated digital processes, with
exactly what the Belgium-based Unifiedpost a particular focus on documents, identity, and FINTECH AGE, LEYBAERT
has managed to do. Founded by CEO Hans payments. He was in the right place at the time, as HAS ALWAYS BEEN AWARE
Leybaert in 2001 to capitalize on advances in a combination of technological innovation, regulatory ENOUGH TO RECOGNIZE THAT
document-processing technology and originally change and an increasingly ferocious competitive OTHER DEVELOPERS AND
focused on the Benelux market, it has grown into environment forced companies to accelerate the ENTREPRENEURS WILL HAVE
a highly reputable pan-European digital services digitalization of their business processes. COMPLEMENTARY SKILLS TO
specialist with annual sales of over $160 million One of Unifiedpost’s biggest challenges has been BRING TO THE UNIFIEDPOST
mainly focused on the SME market. to stay ahead of the curve. Its ability to do so, most OFFERING, AND SINCE 2012
Unifiedpost’s 100% cloud-based communication notably through the launch of its consolidated HAS PURSUED A BUY AND
platform is populated with an ever-expanding payment service, has played a significant role in BUILD STRATEGY. THIS HAS
range of administrative and financial services that the company’s success. The platform has been BEEN SUCH A SUCCESS THAT
allow for real-time and seamless connections in operation since 2016 and is regulated and LAST YEAR HE FELT CONFIDENT
between users, their suppliers, their customers and supervised by the National Bank of Belgium. Now ENOUGH TO GO PUBLIC AND
other parties along the financial value chain. At branded as Banqup, the system is specifically PROCEEDED TO RAISE MORE
last count, it was being used by at least 980,000 designed to meet the challenges inherent in the THAN $200 MILLION.
SMEs and accessed by more than five million EU’s Payment Services Directive 2, the aim of
online users in 30 countries. which is to make payments more secure, to boost “An IPO is unique in the lifetime of a company,
innovation and to encourage the financial services and it should be a cause for celebration, but our
THE COMPANY WAS CREATED AT industry to more readily adopt new technology. listing took place just before the second wave
THE TAIL END OF THE DOT.COM “Banqup licences us to provide SMEs with just of COVID-19 hit, so the reaction was slightly
BOOM, AND LEYBAERT WAS about any payment service you can imagine,” muted,” says Leybaert. “The next day it was
ONE OF A WAVE OF TECH-SAVVY says Leybaert. “We can process card payments business as usual, and we then went on to
YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS WHO and bank transfers and give our customers access complete six acquistions in as many months.”
REALIZED THAT THE INTERNET’S to their existing bank accounts. It allows us to The acquisition spree strengthened and deepened
COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL provide them with the equivalent of a multi- Unifiedpost’s presence in its three core service
LAY AS MUCH IN ITS ABILITY bank environment. The implementation of the areas of documents, identity, and payments,
TO STREAMLINE MUNDANE regulations still varies from country to country, while extending its geographical footprint into the
BUSINESS PRACTICES AS TO so we’ve put a layer on top. If, say, a French Scandinavian countries, Italy, Spain, Poland and,
SELL ANYTHING FROM BBQS TO company wants to invoice a Polish company over very importantly, Germany.
AIRLINE TICKETS. our network, then the transaction is transparent to There are an estimated 400 million SMEs in the
both parties.” world today. Even if just 5% of these turn out to
“I come from what I call a hybrid generation,” Banqup is fully certified and compliant with be potential clients, the opportunities for further
he says. “Our parents worked in a fully paper all required privacy and security regulations. growth are vast.
environment and our children will be fully digital, Its proprietary Multi Identity Broker approach
but we are somewhere in between.” guarantees Banqup customers the delivery
For the past 20 years Leybaert has been on a of secure, easy to use online services to their
mission to help SMEs make the transition from customers.
time.com/specialsections
FOR THE RECORD
QUALITY OR
QUANTITY
THAT THEY
NEED ’
LAMA FAKIH, Middle
$850
East and North Africa
director at Human
MILLION
Rights Watch, on how The largest ever
trade disruptions taxpayer contribution
exacerbated by the for a pro football
war in Ukraine are facility, announced
affecting people in March 28 as part of
the region a deal to help the
Buffalo Bills build a
$1.4 billion stadium
460
The width, in sq.
mi., of a massive
ice shelf that
collapsed in East
Antarctica in an area
previously thought WILL SMITH,
to be stable in the
face of climate
change, scientists
said March 25
‘I can’t be
confident
‘There was no doubt to me it is
imminent ’
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y B R O W N B I R D D E S I G N F O R T I M E
COVID
BLAME
GAME
BY BRIAN BENNETT
T
he Biden AdministrAtion is prepAring to beat predictions and keep control of the House in
for a possible new surge in COVID-19 cases and November’s midterm races. Political operatives are
has already started the political blame game in watching closely to see where the country is on the
case the response falls short. pandemic when the next school year begins. “Where we
The White House has called out Republicans in are when kids go back to school is probably how things are
Congress for not authorizing new funds to make a fourth going to be judged politically,” says an adviser close to the
round of booster shots free and pay for therapeutics and Biden White House.
other ways to reduce the impact of another surge in cases. The White House published a document in early March
“Our primary concern right now is that we’re about to called the “National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.” It in-
run out of funding,” White House press secretary Jen cludes eforts to boost U.S. vaccine production to 1 billion
Psaki said on March 21, warning Americans that they doses per year, fund the development of a single COVID-19
may have to pay for their next booster shots if more vaccine shot, distribute vaccines for children under 5 after
funding isn’t passed. Two days later, White House corona- the FDA approval, and increase U.S. production of test kits.
virus response coordinator Jef Zients echoed: “The “If we fail on this, we leave ourselves vulnerable if another
consequences of congressional inaction are severe, and wave of the virus hits,” Biden said on March 30. “Congress
they are immediate.” needs to act now, please.”
Republicans in Congress have Periods after cases have
refused President Joe Biden’s dropped are when health
request for $15.6 billion more oicials should be able to
funding to make additional increase vaccinations and buy
booster shots free and fund
treatments, saying Congress has
‘Our primary up therapeutics and masks for
the next surge. When Omicron
allocated enough to cover those
expenses, and it’s incumbent concern right cases led to record-setting deaths
and hospitalizations in January,
on states and agencies to spend
what’s already been passed.
Kristen Hawn, a Democratic
now is that the Biden Administration was
blamed for not doing enough
to prepare, and for being late in
strategist consulting in
competitive House races, says
we’re about to making a suicient quantity of
free tests and high-quality masks
that the politics around the
pandemic have put the Biden
White House in a tough spot.
run out of available. If there are similar
failures before a new surge, the
Administration is making a case
Polling shows that Americans
are tired of the pandemic,
funding.’ for the public to blame Congress.
There’s reason to believe
but it’s still up to the Biden —JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY the U.S. could soon see another
Administration to be ready to spike. Coronavirus cases in
provide help if there’s another Britain, the Netherlands, and
spike in infections. “It’s a Germany are rising as a more
predicament,” Hawn says. To get funding from Congress, easily spread subvariant of Omicron, BA.2, takes hold.
White House oicials feel the need to build public Epidemiologists in the U.S. have seen signs of the new
pressure. “If another variant comes along, people are version of the virus in Northeastern states.
P R E V I O U S PA G E : T H E N E W YO R K T I M E S/ R E D U X ; T H E S E PA G E S : C H R I S S Z A G O L A — A P
going to expect shots in arms; they’re going to expect The number of new reported COVID-19 cases in
testing. Those things don’t just happen,” Hawn says. the U.S. has dropped by 97% from its daily average
peak of 800,000 in mid-January. Restaurants, oices,
The WhiTe house knoWs that Biden’s performance on and schools are open, and mask mandates have lifted
COVID-19 is one of the few bright spots in the public’s across the country. More than 800 Americans are
sagging perception of his presidency. And they want to still dying from coronavirus infections every day. But
keep it that way: 53% of Americans approve of Biden’s Democrats have politically moved away from lockdowns
handling of the pandemic, according to polling conducted and widespread mask mandates, and they likely aren’t
in mid-March by the Associated Press/NORC Center for going back. Last June, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer
Public Afairs Research—well above the 43% who approved was one of the irst Democratic governors to say that
of Biden’s job performance overall. “Biden’s job rating on her state wasn’t going back to lockdowns or sweeping
COVID is his strongest job rating,” says John Anzalone, a mask mandates. That posture has since been adopted by
Democratic pollster who has worked closely with Biden. many other Democratic leaders, including Biden, and is
“It’s well above his overall job rating, and it shows people unlikely to change. The adviser close to the Biden White
have a lot of conidence in him on that issue.” House says: “Democrats will be incredibly resistant to go
How voters see Biden’s handling of future case surges back to anything other than, ‘We have the tools to deal
could have an impact on whether Democrats are able with this.’” □
The Brief is reported by Eloise Barry, Madeleine Carlisle, Mariah Espada, Tara Law, Sanya Mansoor, Billy Perrigo, Nik Popli, Simmone Shah, and Olivia B. Waxman
NEWS TICKER
suspended
operations on
March 28.
Courting victory
North Carolina’s Armando Bacot goes up for a dunk during the Elite Eight round of March
Madness in Philadelphia on March 27. UNC’s victory knocked fan-favorite underdog St. Peter’s
out of the NCAA tournament, but not before St. Peter’s made history by being the irst ever
No. 15 seed to advance that far. “I got a bunch of guys that just play basketball and have fun,”
St. Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway said in an interview. “That’s all we do.”
issued 20 fines
to individuals for
THE BULLETIN breaking restrictions
Caribbean tour raises questions on monarchy’s role
Protests disruPted a tour of former TREND In November, Barbados became the
British colonies in the Caribbean by the irst country to remove the Queen as head
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince of state since Mauritius in 1992. Dame San-
William and Kate Middleton. The tour dra Mason, the island’s Governor- General
began March 19 amid growing calls to cut since 2018, was named as President-elect
formal ties with the Queen and a reckoning of the nation. “The time has come to fully
with the region’s colonial past that includes leave our colonial past behind,” she said.
calls for slavery reparations. Queen Eliza- Debates about abolishing the monarchy
beth II is the monarch of 14 countries out- have rumbled on for decades in other Com-
side the U.K., including Canada, Australia, monwealth realms.
and Papua New Guinea, that are known as
the Commonwealth realms. LEGACY Although the Queen’s role in Com-
monwealth realms is largely symbolic, at-
TIMING Oicially, the trip was meant titudes toward the royal family are varied
to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s and complex. Some believe that keeping
Platinum Jubilee, celebrating 70 years on the Queen as head of state undermines in- reportedly suffered
the throne. But many observers say the dependence, and only serves to perpetu- symptoms consistent
trip was to persuade Belize, Jamaica, and ate colonial subservience. “Imagine being with poisoning
the Bahamas to keep the Queen as head given independence, and then to be told as
of state. On the second stop of their trip, an adult nation that the Queen still had a
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness stake in Jamaica and that the island is not
told the royals, “We intend to attain in really free, it is still an infant colony,” ex-
short order . . . our true ambitions as an plains Jamaican-born British writer and
independent, developed, prosperous academic Velma McClymont.
country.” —eloise Barry
11
THE BRIEF NEWS
GOOD QUESTION
NEWS TICKER
How many planets have been found,
and how many more are out there?
Time was, There were only nine short time it’s been operating,
known planets in the entire universe—the it has confrmed the existence of 203
gaggle of worlds that orbit our sun. That more exoplanets and has spotted another
number was reduced to eight in 2006, possible 5,459 that astronomers are now
President Donald Trump when the International Astronomical investigating.
“more likely than not” Union busted Pluto down to a dwarf The transit method is not the only
committed felonies in
his efforts planet. But even before Pluto was way to go looking for exoplanets. Other
pink-slipped, the planetary census far telescopes—both space-based and
deeper in space began to grow, with the Earth-based—use what’s known as the
discovery, in 1992, of a planet orbiting radial-velocity method. They study a star
a rapidly spinning pulsar; and later, in looking for the slight wobble caused by the
1995, of a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a gravity of a planet—or multiple planets—
sunlike star. Since then tugging on it as they orbit.
the planetary population The most celebrated
has exploded, and, as multiplanet system to
NASA’s Jet Propulsion HOW EXOPLANETS date is located just 39
Laboratory recently ARE DETECTED light-years from Earth,
reported, the oicial total where seven planets orbit
of known worlds beyond the red dwarf known as
our own has now topped Trappist-1.
5,000. Star The planets that
Orbit
The majority of the have been discovered
banning
classroom instruction
discoveries were made so far range in size and
by the Kepler space Planet in composition. There are
about sexual front of star
orientation or gender telescope. Launched so-called hot Jupiters—
identity in 2009, it hunted for TRANSIT which, as their name
planets using the so- Stars are slightly dimmed suggests, are gaseous
called transit method— as orbiting planets block worlds that orbit close to
looking for the slight their light the fres of their parent
dimming in light that planet. Others are smaller
occurs when an orbiting gas worlds, similar in size
planet briely blocks the to Neptune. Still others—
light from the star. The Star the most promising ones—
dimming is fantastically are compact, rocky planets
subtle. Former Kepler Planet like Earth, some orbiting
mission director Natalie in the habitable zone of
WOBBLE
Batalha described it to their star, a place where
As a planet orbits,
TIME as the equivalent its gravity tugs its
temperatures are not too
of removing a single parent star slightly
hot and not too cold for
light bulb from a board water, the sine qua non of
of 10,000 of them. And life as we know it, to exist
Kepler studied only a in a liquid state.
authorized a fourth tiny portion of the sky, encompassing The mere fact that astronomers fnd
dose of Pfizer or just 150,000 stars. Still, in the 11 years planets pretty much everywhere they look
Moderna vaccine
it operated, it confrmed the existence has led them to conclude that virtually
of 2,709 exoplanets and has returned every star in the universe is orbited by
data still being studied about a possible at least one planet—making for trillions
2,057 more. upon trillions of potential worlds. “Each
STEPHEN VOSS — REDUX
The newer Transiting Exoplanet Survey one of them is a brand-new planet,” said
Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, also NASA astronomer Jessie Christiansen in a
uses the transit method, but is equipped statement. “I get excited about every one
with multiple telescopic eyes, allowing it to because we don’t know anything about
scan the entire bowl of the sky. In just the them.” —Jeffrey Kluger
12 Time April 11/April 18, 2022
DIED
◁
A campaign poster
showing President
Macron, on March 22
sion began, his far-right rivals have scrambled to explain election,” says Antoine Bristielle, a
their long support for Russian President Vladimir Putin; public-opinion expert at the Fonda-
Le Pen, 53, pulped more than a million pamphlets showing tion Jean-Jaurès in Paris. Instead, he
her shaking Putin’s hand. By contrast, Macron—who has the says, “it will be expressed in the street
luck of France being the E.U.’s current rotating President— in his next fve years in oice.”
14 Time April 11/April 18, 2022
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
Norway
LEADING LIGHTS
N
orway, situated on the northern flank of Europe and with a Norwegian petroleum sector. By the end of 2021, it had over $1.35 trillion
population of just 5.5 million, is one of the world’s wealthiest in assets and held investments in 1.4% of all the world’s listed companies.
nations. Two main contributors to its success are its vast Its total value was estimated to be worth about $250,000 per Norwegian
reserves of oil and timber and a seafaring tradition that has citizen.
given rise to a thriving shipping industry. But there is more to The government’s prudent stewardship of the country’s financial
the story than just that. Thanks to its skilled labor force and the Norwegian resources is reflected in its rigorous regulation of the banking sector, though
flair for innovation, the country is emerging as the market leader in several this has not discouraged Norway’s banks from adopting digital technology
new-generation sustainable, green, high-tech industries. or exploring the potential of fintech. On the contrary, banks are now
“As a people we have a lot of competences and depth of knowledge enthusiastically using technology to promote financial inclusion. “There
that can be utilized in many good ways,” says Karl Johan Lier, CEO and will always be a need for banks to lend to people who have a financial
president of cube storage pioneer AutoStore. “Our oil and gas companies need but not the collateral,” says Klara Lise-Aasen, who as CEO and CFO
have been developing fantastic technologies for years, and now you’re of Bank Norwegian heads up one of Europe’s most cutting-edge digital
seeing all these other companies popping up to address challenges in other banks. “I think it’s so important to lend to such people, provided they have
markets. These are very interesting times.” the means to pay the loan back at a sensible interest rate.”
Another key to Norway’s success has been its effective implementation This sense of social responsibility also underpins Norway’s determination
of the so-called Nordic model of governance, which relies on the public to combat climate change in any way possible. Apart from its current
provision of social services, education, childcare, and other services carbon-intensive oil and gas industries, the rest of Norwegian society is
associated with human capital. That environment has a huge bearing already running on clean hydro power. On top of which the country is a
on the Norwegian character, as noted by Sigmund Lunde, chairman of leader in pumped storage hydropower development, with ambitions to
management consultancy Omega 365. “Key for any business is creating become Europe’s “battery.”
a place where people want to be -- creating an environment where people At the same time, the government has singled out hydrogen as being
can contribute,” says Lunde. “This is the DNA of Nordic thinking.” key to its “green shift.” A growing number of companies have entered the
Oslo’s use of a social safety net to help workers and families adapt to hydrogen business, and ammonia hydrogen may soon become the fuel of
economic challenges from increased global competition for goods and choice among shipowners. And in an initiative supported by the Research
services has created a bond between Norwegians and their elected leaders Council of Norway and several Norwegian industry partners, three large-
that encourages a healthy level of risk-taking. scale so-called giga battery cell factories are in the pipeline, with the aim
“We enjoy a stable political environment, and we trust our government,” of producing batteries for export. New green and sustainable technologies
says Simen Lieungh, CEO of Odfjell Drilling, whose Mobile Offshore Wind for next-generation agriculture are also being developed, again with
Units promise to decarbonize offshore oil and gas drilling and production government support. Meanwhile, exploring the possibility of developing
within two years. “This paid dividends during the pandemic,” says gas-fired power stations using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has long
Lieungh. “To their great credit, our leaders listened to the professionals and been a centerpiece of Norway’s energy policy.
the health authorities.” Norway’s private sector is actively spurring its government on. One
Sverre Flatby, the founder and CEO of specialist e-health solutions of its most vocal advocates is TOMRA, a leading provider of optical
provider CSAM, agrees. “A large part of being a Norwegian is the loyalty sorting and processing technology for the fresh and processed food
that you have to the political system, the business culture and the way industry, as well as Norway’s most established aluminum, glass
they work together,” says Flatby. and overall waste management recycling business. “Adopting more
Norway’s business community also has the reassurance that the assertive standards will lead to the creation of more scalable climate
economy is underwritten by the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. management solutions,” says Tove Andersen, its president and CEO.
Sometimes known as the Oil Fund, the Government Pension Fund “We need to adopt policies that address the responsible handling of
Global was established in 1990 to invest the surplus revenues of the resources on a worldwide basis.”
time.com/specialsections
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
ODFJELL DRILLING
At the Vanguard
of Change
L
ast June, in a move that promises to
revolutionize energy provision for the offshore
oil and gas industry, Odfjell Oceanwind
signed a memorandum of understanding with two
Si i th t h ld l i t i th
reported revenues of $860 million in 2021. competitors into bankruptcy. “It was a real shock Group’s ESG 100 report for 2021, which rates
Being a specialist in working in some of the to us all,” says Lieungh, “but we came through the sustainability reporting of the top 100
harshest environments on earth, its MODUs because we focused on contracts that were companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
(Mobile Offshore Drilling Units) have been not necessarily the most lucrative, but good for Plans for the next leg of Odfjell Drilling’s journey
deployed as far afield as South Africa, Vietnam, cashflow and helped to pay off our debts. It just are already well under way. This April the well
and Brazil, in addition to Norway and the UK. proved how important it is to keep your capital services and energy businesses are scheduled to
“We are used to working in some really hostile discipline.” be spun off to create a separate company. The new
environments,” says CEO Simen Lieungh, an Lieungh attributes the company’s longevity to the company will be listed as Odfjell Technology, and
industry veteran of more than 35 years and a stabilizing influence of the Odfjell family (who still will focus on innovation and development of new
passionate believer in the power of teamwork. holds a majority stake) and the solidity of Norway’s services, technologies and products required in the
“Our people must deal with up to 50-feet societal infrastructure and political system. This, energy transition.
waves, violently swirling currents and sub-zero along with that financial discipline, also helped “All our heavy assets such as our drilling rigs and
temperatures,” he says. “The only things they Lieungh steer the company through the pandemic. the people operating these will belong to Odfjell
don’t normally encounter are icebergs and sharks. As its MOWU initiative clearly demonstrates, Drilling. The technology and engineering function
Otherwise, it’s hell.” Odfjell Drilling is proving itself more than capable and the people operating client assets will move to
Over the years, Odfjell has also proved itself of adapting to the demands of the global push Odfjell Technology” says Lieungh, who will be chair
adept at weathering storms of an altogether to address the adverse effects of climate change. of Odfjell Drilling and Odfjell Oceanwind, while
different type. The most severe of these lasted “We are obviously part of the oil and gas industry, assuming the role of CEO of Odfjell Technology.
from 2014 to 2016 when the price of crude oil but Odfjell Oceanwind is our first move into “It’s a perfect arrangement.”
time.com/specialsections
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
BANK NORWEGIAN –
The Face of Digital Banking
In the space of only 15 years, Bank Norwegian has
transformed itself from an airline support platform to a
B
ank Norwegian’s growth has been so A similar progressive ethos underlines Bank
sustainable and successful that when Norwegian’s approach to both financial inclusion
it emerged last year that Nordax, the and its lending criteria. The bank has made a
responsible lending specialist bank, was set to name for itself with its ability to make a success Klara Lise-Aasen
acquire it, the new owners opted to give Bank of extending unsecured personal loans, along CEO and CFO of Bank Norwegian
Norwegian the necessary scale and resources to with offering credit cards. More than 70% of its
become a leading force in shaping the future of lending takes the form of unsecured instalment secure compliance with privacy rules and
consumer finance. loans. Nearly 40% of these are extended to its identify money laundering issues. Only recently
Norwegian customer base, meaning more than launched, the bank’s Security ID service is a
NORDAX BELIEVED THAT BANK half of the remainder of these popular loans go case in point. By enabling customers to visually
NORWEGIAN’S INNOVATIVE to consumers in neighboring Nordic countries. confirm their identity with their smartphones,
CULTURE AND COST-LEADING “We have become the digital bank of choice it gives the bank the ability to digitally confirm
EFFICIENT OPERATING MODEL for personal customers who need financing but or reject an application or a loan in a matter of
MADE IT THE PERFECT don’t have something like a house to use as seconds. “It’s all about improving the simplicity
CANDIDATE TO BECOME THE collateral,” says Aasen. “We offer unsecured of the digital customer journey,” Aasen explains.
LARGEST SPECIALIST BANK IN lending to people who need it for their financing Bank Norwegian’s digital roots give its
THE REGION. needs at the right price at the right risk. To do business model a scalability that frequently
this responsibly we make absolutely sure that eludes legacy banks, with their older tech
Much of Nordax’s confidence stemmed our customers fully understand the burden they systems. After a sustained eight-year campaign
from its faith in the people working in Bank are taking on. of expansion across the Nordics, Bank
Norwegian. One of them is Klara Lise-Aasen “Our aim is to offer transparent and simple Norwegian is now actively seeking to extend the
who, after a successful stint as interim CEO and products digitally to our customers,” says bank’s presence into Western Europe.
CFO at Bank Norwegian, took over both roles Aasen. “From our side, it is also about really The huge concentration of potential digital
on a permanent basis last November. Like Bank understanding them as well and developing customers in urban areas made Germany and
Norwegian itself, whose roots are intrinsically good models predicting customer behavior.” Spain Aasen’s top priority. “We want to show
digital rather than bricks-and-mortar, Aasen is we can also succeed in these two new countries
one of a new breed of financial professionals on BANK NORWEGIAN WAS “BORN before embarking on further expansion,”
a mission to ensure that today’s banks reflect DIGITAL” AND IS NOW USING says Aasen. “The timing was right for further
changing customer behavior as well as larger ITS UNRIVALLED EXPERTISE expansion,” she says when describing entry
societal shifts. IN DIGITAL DATA MINING AND to Germany and Spain in the middle of a
Aasen has been lauded as part of a new ANALYSIS TO CREATE IN-DEPTH pandemic. “We’ve spent the past few years
generation of modest CEOs whose accessible PROFILES OF POTENTIAL AND improving our governance, operations, and risk
style is generating impressive results. “I hope CURRENT CUSTOMERS TO handling policy. We have a proven expansion
to walk the talk and lead by example,” says MINIMIZE THE RISK OF ITS model, with market-leading cost-income ratio
Aasen, whose open approach and ability to EXPOSURE TO UNSECURED with our efficient operating model, and we are in
uncomplicate things is greatly appreciated LOANS. a strong capital position.”
by both her employees and customers. “We Bank Norwegian’s digital horizon is expanding
are on a journey with Bank Norwegian as we The bank develops its customer-facing by the day.
move from being a specialist Nordic Bank to applications in-house and has gained a
an international entity. We may be a digital competitive edge over many larger banks by
operation but it’s the people behind the systems making its digital services as user friendly as
who are important, and we have a committed possible. Meanwhile, the bank gives its staff the
and excellent work force.” tools they require to make the right decisions,
time.com/specialsections
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
Tove Andersen
President and CEO of TOMRA
Recycling has long been regarded as an Collection has grown into the world’s “By significantly increasing effective
essential part of a circular economy. leading provider of reverse vending recycling systems and improving
Now with the United States and solutions. It each year facilitates the resource management practices globally,
European nations setting increasingly collection of more than 40 billion empty GHG emissions can be reduced by 2.76
ambitious emission-reduction targets, cans and bottles and provides retailers billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
preventing excessive waste and reducing and other customers with an effective compared to current waste disposal
the world’s dependency on new primary and efficient way of collecting, sorting methods,” says Andersen. “That is the
resources has become ever more and processing these containers. equivalent of removing more than 600
important. million passenger vehicles from the road
TOMRA Collection contributes half of annually.”
TOMRA president and CEO Tove TOMRA’s annual revenues, with its other
Andersen is positively relishing the business activities in food sorting, waste TOMRA is committed to an exponential
challenge. “Adopting more assertive and metals sorting, and ore and mineral improvement in post-consumer plastic
GHG [greenhouse gas] performance sorting, contributing the remainder. packaging waste management. The
standards, especially for carbon- Listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, company has pledged to enable 40%
intensive materials like plastics and the company generated revenues of all post-consumer plastic packaging
metal, supports more scalable climate of $1.2 billion in 2021 and employs produced globally each year to be
management solutions,” says Andersen. approximately 4,600 people and has collected for recycling by 2030. The
“Policymakers should not waste this 100,000 installations across more than company also intends to enable 30%
chance of expanding actions rapidly. 80 markets worldwide. Around 11,000 of all post-consumer plastic packaging
Researchers and environmental groups of those installations belong to TOMRA to be recycled in a closed-loop system,
indicate that a green recovery is possible Food, a leading provider of optical which is critical to reducing the world’s
with existing technologies.” sorting and processing technology for reliance on fossil fuels.
the fresh and processed food industry.
Since its inception in 1972, TOMRA has “TOMRA has a golden opportunity to
been at the vanguard of the circular Another 6,400 installations are operated make a significant contribution to the
economy, pioneering the development by TOMRA Recycling, pioneers in the green shift that our planet needs,”
of reverse vending systems for the automation of waste sorting, while Andersen says. “We are playing a leading
automated collection of used beverage TOMRA Mining provides a complete role in developing solutions for the
containers for recycling or reuse. product portfolio for efficient material circular economy. Now we need people
separation in various minerals and ore who are passionate about sustainability
Today, with approximately 80,000 applications. to join us in our vision of leading the
installations in over 60 markets, TOMRA resource revolution.”
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
C
hallenged by a combination of low CSAM acquired Carmenta Public Safety and
population densities and communities Optima. These acquisitions boosted Public
scattered across wide geographical Safety to CSAM’s largest business area in
areas, Nordic healthcare authorities were under a year, and the combination of solutions
among the first to turn to digital technologies acquired now covers the complete Public Sverre Flatby
to deliver an efficient service. The result is Safety value chain from A to Z. After joining CEO and Founder of CSAM Health Group
companies like Norway’s CSAM Health Group CSAM, both won new contracts in 2021. enhanced it. Not only did its software prove
have established themselves as the leading resistant to outside forces by accelerating the
providers of specialist eHealth solutions, “THROUGH OUR BIB introduction of automation, but it helped the
not just in Scandinavia but across Europe STRATEGY, WE HAVE company post record revenues for 2020-21.
and beyond. CSAM’s product portfolio of SUCCESSFULLY ACQUIRED Anchored by a seemingly future-proofed
innovative solutions ranges from connected TEN BUSINESSES OVER THE technology platform and a business model
healthcare, medical imaging, women and PAST SIX YEARS AND EACH OF underpinned by regular subscription revenue
children’s health, public safety and medication THEM HAS EITHER EXPANDED streams (the churn on its recurring revenue
management to laboratory information OR STRENGTHENED OUR streams has historically been less than 2%),
management systems and health analytics. PRODUCT OFFERING IN Flatby is focused on M&A and investors that
Listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange since KEY PRODUCT DOMAINS OR foster expansion of CSAM’s geographical
2020 and with a series of judicious and highly MARKETS,” SAYS FLATBY. footprint outside its strong Nordic origins.
successful acquisitions to its name, CSAM “We have a fantastic mix of savvy investors
started life as an in-house program designed It is clearly a winning formula. CSAM grew who come from the US and the UK, as well
to facilitate data transfer for Norway’s at a yearly average of 40% between 2015 and as the Nordic countries, and who genuinely
National Hospital when it moved premises in 2020 and expects to do the same between understand our business model,” Flatby
2000. It is the recurring software income from 2021 and 2025, with 30% of that growth says. “It is our impression that our investors
several public-sector contracts that grew out coming from acquisitions and 10% from appreciate and share our long-term thinking
of the success of that integrative process that organic development. “This is our playbook,” and vision.”
remains the backbone of the business and says Flatby. “We know it by heart and we are Flatby has attracted a strong portfolio of
guarantees its long-term stability. “What we ready to go.” investors who clearly see what CSAM is really
do is develop and deliver highly specialized Given CSAM’s success in weathering the all about. “I love people, healthcare and
components that support complex processes, COVID-19 storm, Flatby’s confidence that the eHealth in that order, and most of the very
normally inside specialized hospitals,” says company will thrive whatever lies ahead looks talented people who work here fundamentally
Sverre Flatby, CEO and founder of CSAM. entirely justified. His financial predictions may feel the same,” he says. “At the end of the
The company’s skill in the seamless even end up being on the conservative side. day, it’s not only about cool software, but
integration of new software programs into “The pandemic affected the way we could also about how we can contribute to saving
existing healthcare systems is key to CSAM’s install the software and train people,” he says. people’s lives.”
success. By the same token, its ability to “On the plus side, it demonstrated how many
integrate new companies into the CSAM processes it was possible to automate and
structure is of equal importance. So much so how you could digitalize the delivery process.”
that it is recognized as a process in its own Far from depressing CSAM’s financial
right as Buy, Integrate & Build (BIB). In 2021, performance, the pandemic seems to have
time.com/specialsections
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
L
ast October, robotics firm and cube storage demand for efficiency and speed,” says Lier. “Last
pioneer AutoStore became Norway’s most year we opened a very advanced innovation hub
valuable new listing in two decades when it where we are constantly trying out new ideas in
raised over $240 million through a share issue on full-scale operations. We encourage our customers
the Oslo Stock Exchange. The success of the listing to give us their feedback. I would say that
was the latest chapter in a remarkable story that about 70% of our R&D effort goes into software
h l l TV i b i f i lf d l t b th t i h t ll d i
much more efficient.” efficiency of delivery have also grown. that our customers are involved in, whether that is
And so the concept of cube storage was born. This in turn has presented suppliers with a whole grocery, retail, fashion, or sports,” Vikse says. “But
After several years of trial and error, AutoStore new set of logistical challenges that the AutoStore our client base also includes libraries and industrial
perfected a modular, three-dimensional grid of system has evolved to meet. Continually optimizing applications manufacturers. If their products fit into
self-supporting bins that use robots to retrieve and delivery times by preparing bins throughout the the bins, we can provide a relevant solution.”
deliver items to pick-up stations. The AutoStore course of operations ensures that the time needed Lier sees no end to growth in their client base.
system can reduce the physical space required by to complete an order is kept to a minimum. “We believe that 80% of warehousing and logistics
as much as 75% when compared with traditional Grocery retailers have their own particular issues will be automated within 30 years,” he says. “We
storage solutions and offers the highest density due to the perishable nature of many of their calculate that the market could grow at a CAGR of
ratio cube storage of any goods-to-person system. goods. Diversifying an existing business to allow 15% for years to come. AutoStore will benefit from
“The efficiency of our system means we can keep for online shopping can also quickly translate secular megatrends like increasing e-commerce
our customers’ costs down,” says AutoStore CRO into an uncomfortably busy shop floor as orders penetration, automation penetration, enhanced
Mats Hovland Vikse. “In addition, they can keep are gathered and prepared for delivery. AutoStore focus on sustainability, and changing consumer
far more inventory in the same amount of space helps its grocery retail clients reduce their stock demands for rapid order fulfilment and delivery,
than with any alternative solution, so the return on storage footprint and the amount of labor required, which our systems support.”
their investment is much greater.” thereby helping alleviate store congestion. This As the only scaled, IP-protected, and
Maximizing space is only part of the secret of in turn enables these big grocers to give in-store commercially available provider in the fast cubic
AutoStore’s success and would be meaningless if customers their full attention and services while storage market, the digital footprints of AutoStore
it was not wedded to a highly efficient automated simultaneously serving those shopping online. will be there to lead the way.
selection and delivery system. This is regularly fine- AutoStore is also increasingly popular with the
tuned and updated. growing number of third-party logistics providers.
“We have invested heavily in R&D and continue The system gathers large quantities of data that
to innovate our system to meet our customers can be used for big data analysis and inform better
time.com/specialsections
THE BRIEF TIME WITH
Chichvarkin argues that sanctioning oligarchs changing power.” It’s such a slim glim-
will have little efect on Putin. “Sanctions must mer that Chichvarkin falls silent. He
target Putin’s wallet and his real friends,” he says, twists his mustache contemplatively
“not people who made money and probably had and eventually looks up. “Ukraine win-
to give half to Putin just to keep the other half.” ning the war would help.” □
23
LIGHTBOX
Silent tribute
Emergency responders stand in silence to honor the
victims of the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed
in Wuzhou, China, on March 27. All 132 passengers
and crew aboard were killed when the Bombardier
CRJ-200ER traveling from Kunming to Guangzhou
crashed into mountains at high speed on March 21,
authorities conirmed on March 26. It was the deadliest
air disaster in mainland China since 1994.
JUDGE JACKSON’S
PRACTICED POISE
BY MIKKI KENDALL
▶
INSIDE
THE HEAVY ECONOMIC TOLL HOW BIG TECH COMPANIES WHAT I WISH MORE PEOPLE HAD
OF “ZERO COVID” IN CHINA CAPITALIZE ON VIRAL SHAME TOLD ME ABOUT PARENTING
27
THE VIEW OPENER
She knows, as does any Black woman for the atrocious behaviors at these
in America, that if she gets upset or hearings, but one of the reasons so Kendall is the author of Hood
displays anger, she will be labeled many Republican Senators turned to Feminism: Notes From the Women
an Angry Black Woman and all her this toolbox of bigotry is they know That a Movement Forgot
The View is reported by Chad de Guzman, Mariah Espada, and Julia Zorthian
SOCIETY
THE RISK REPORT BY IAN BREMMER RETHINKING THE
OFFICE FOR MOMS
Nobody wants to go back to the
ofice quite like white dudes. This
doesn’t mean all white dudes
are pushing this return—or that
everyone in this camp is white
or a dude—but just over 30% of
white men want to go back full
time, compared with around 22%
of women (Black and white) and
16% of Black men.
For working moms espe-
cially, remote work has brought
a new level of lexibility and
self-determination. And studies
show lexible work can increase
our sense of belonging—par-
ticularly for Black workers. But
for two years, the ofice advo-
cates have put us through the
same “When can we get back?”
conversation, ignoring the more
important one: Is there an
ofice that working moms would
be excited to go to? If so, why
aren’t men ighting for it?
In a word: comfort. The
ofice was designed for men
who made the money while
their wives took care of their
COVID-19’s home and family. Not only
was the temperature set low
disruption to optimize for the warmth of
their suits, the standard of
of Chinese “professionalism” was based
life will on white-male sociality. It’s
no wonder I felt relieved to
get worse work remotely early in the
before it pandemic.
Still, with two kids at home,
gets better I soon began to understand
the urge to go back—but not
to the ofice as we know it. We
need a new kind of workplace
built with moms in mind, one
that gives workers control
over their time, lets them
work from home as needed,
offers childcare support, and
addresses biases.
Reimagining the workplace
isn’t about the end of comfort.
If all goes well, for many, it will
be the beginning.
—Reshma Saujani,
author of Pay Up: The Future
of Women and Work (and Why
It’s Different Than You Think)
29
THE VIEW INBOX
◁
Vehicles wait to
refuel at a Costco in
Seattle on March 9
By Philip Elliott
C H O N A K A S I N G E R — B L O O M B E R G /G E T T Y I M A G E S
you a luxury item or to prey upon you if they deem you vul- need to us from building solidarity. The irst
nerable to gambling, predatory loans, or cryptocurrencies. share step is for us to critically observe their
In turn, the advertisers who ind you igure out your weak- manipulations and call them what
nesses and deftly exploit them. When I realized I was help- norms they are: shame machines.
ing build a terrible system, I got out. and even
O’Neil is the author of The Shame
For social media, the data scientists are interested in a sense Machine: Who Proits in the New
only one thing: sustained attention. That’s why online we are of trust Age of Humiliation
32 Time April 11/April 18, 2022
parenthood, we overcorrected. We for-
got to keep sharing the good stuf, in
addition to the bad.
Bridgwater church has its place in history, for it was from the
battlements of this tower that the ill-fated Monmouth looked forth
upon the plain of Sedgemoor, just before the battle that was to
decide his fortunes.
Nothing in the long story of the West so stirs the blood as the
incidents of the disastrous expedition captained by this handsome,
ambitious, and well-liked son of Charles II. It was a generous
enterprise—if at the same time not without its great personal
reward, if successful—to attempt the saving of England from the
domination of Popery that again threatened her; and it deserved a
better conclusion than that recorded by history.
BRIDGWATER: ST. MARY’S CHURCH, AND CORN EXCHANGE.
WESTONZOYLAND.
Now, there is nothing that more disheartens untrained men than a
check in their forward march. Countermarching to them appears but
the forerunner of defeat, and the flow of ardour in any cause once
hindered is difficult to recover. With regular troops the chances and
changes incidental to campaigning inure them to disappointments,
and the retreat of to-day they know often to be but the prelude of
to-morrow’s advance. But with Monmouth’s men, their leader’s plan
once altered, their fortunes seemed irretrievably clouded. Monmouth
himself grew gloomy at the delay the vacillations of himself and his
lieutenants had caused, and when on the afternoon of Sunday, July
5th, he ascended to this point to reconnoitre the position his
opponents had taken up in the midst of the moor, his heart sank. He
saw the glint of their arms, the colours of the regiments drawn up
beneath the shadow of the tall tower of Westonzoyland, and he well
knew that a conflict between them and his brave, but untaught,
peasants could only prove fatal to his ambitions. He had, some years
before, led those very soldiers to victory. “I know those men,” said
he to his officers, leaning over these parapets of St. Mary’s; “they
will fight!”
By a circuitous route, his army left the town of Bridgwater when
night was come and darkness had shrouded the moor. By narrow
and rugged lanes they went, past Chedzoy, towards the Polden Hills.
Here they turned, and, led by a guide, essayed to thread the maze
of deep ditches called, in the parlance of the West Country, “Rhines.”
It was not until two o’clock in the morning that they had reached
within striking distance of the Royal troops, crossing safely the Black
Ditch, and moving along the outer side of the Langmoor Rhine, in
search of a passage, when a pistol was fired, either by accident or
treachery. “A Dark night,” says one who was present, “and Thick
Fogg covering the Moore.” The darkness and the sudden alarm
caused by the pistol-shot threw Monmouth’s men into confusion, and
the Royal forces were at the same time aroused. The night attack
had failed.
James II.’s troops challenged the masses of men they saw dimly
advancing through the mist, and were for a time deceived by the
answering cry of “Albemarle,” the name of the Royalist commander,
who was supposed to be coming to the support of Lord Feversham.
And thus the Monmouth men passed on to the Bussex Rhine,
where they were simultaneously challenged and fired upon by
another outpost. Dismayed by this volley at close quarters, the rebel
horse, forming the advance, broke and dashed wildly back into the
stolid ranks of the peasantry. It says much for the stubborn courage
of those ploughmen and hedgers and ditchers who formed the bulk
of the Duke’s ranks, that in this confusion they stood fast.
Then the fight began in earnest, chiefly hand-to-hand, beside the
broad and stagnant Rhine, in whose noisome mud many a stout
fellow met his death that night. It was not until day dawned across
the moor that the last band of rustic pikemen broke and fled before
the King’s battalions, pouring across the Bussex Rhine.
Hours before, under cover of the night, the rebel Duke had fled
the spot with Lord Grey and thirty horsemen. It had been a better
thing had he halted and been cut to pieces with his brave followers.
His had then been a nobler figure in history.
He had looked with the ill-disguised contempt of an old
campaigner upon his doomed rustics. Urged to make a last effort to
support them, he said bitterly: “All the world cannot stop those
fellows; they will run presently”—and ran himself. The shattered
remnants of his raw ranks poured confusedly into Bridgwater town,
soon after daylight was come. At first the townsfolk thought them
but the wounded stragglers from a great victory, and shouted, with
caps flying in air, for “King Monmouth.” Then the dreadful truth
spread abroad from the lips of wounded and dying men, and those
who had cheered for the flying leader hid themselves, or fled on
their own account. Three thousand of the rebels lay slain upon the
field.
Swift and terrible was the punishment meted out to the unhappy
victims of Monmouth’s ill-starred rising. The moorland, the towns
and villages throughout the counties of Somerset and Dorset, were
made ghastly with the bodies and quarters of the rebels executed
and hanged in gimmaces, or fixed on posts by the entrances to the
village churches; and the shocking judicial progress of the infamous
Judge Jeffreys, is aptly commemorated in the popular name of the
“Bloody Assize.” The Duke of Monmouth, captured at Woodyates,
was beheaded on Tower Hill, after an abject appeal for mercy had
been refused, on July 15th.
Lost causes always appeal to the imagination more eloquently
than those that have gained their objects, and the Monmouth
Rebellion is no exception. The enthusiasm aroused by the handsome
presence and gallant bearing of this gay and careless son of Charles
II. and Lucy Walters, still finds an echo in the West, in the sympathy
felt for his tragic end and for the temporary eclipse of the Protestant
cause. This interest lends itself to the whole of the level country
behind Bridgwater, the flat, dyke-intersected, alluvial plain of
Sedgemoor. The Bussex Rhine, one of the original dykes, has long
since been filled up, and more modern ditches cut for the better
draining of the district; but the spot where the battle was fought can
still be exactly identified. It lies half a mile to the north of
Westonzoyland, whose rugged church tower overlooks the greater
part of the moor, topping the withies, the poplars, and the apple-
orchards of the village with grand effect. In that stately church five
hundred of the rebels were imprisoned before trial. A little distance
from the site of the Bussex Rhine is the Langmoor Rhine, and, near
by, Brentsfield Bridge, where the Duke’s men crossed. The village
people of Chedzoy still show the enquiring stranger that stone in the
church wall on which the pikes were sharpened before the fight, and
the plough even now occasionally turns up rusty sword-hilts, bullets,
and other eloquent memorials of that futile struggle. But the silken
banner, worked by the Fair Maids of Taunton, where is it, with its
proud motto, Pro Religione et Libertate? and where the memorial
that should mark this fatal field whereon so many stalwart West-
countrymen laid down their lives for their faith?
CHAPTER XIV
CANNINGTON—THE QUANTOCKS—NETHER
STOWEY, AND THE COLERIDGE CIRCLE
CANNINGTON.
The village stands well above the Parret valley, and is described by
Leland as a “praty uplandische” place. A stream that wanders to this
side and that, and in its incertitude loses its way and distributes
itself in shallow pools and between gravelly banks, over a wide area,
is the traveller’s introduction to Cannington. Here a comparatively
modern bridge carries the dusty highway over the stream, leaving to
contemplative folk the original packhorse bridge by which in olden
times the water was crossed when floods rendered impracticable the
usual practice of fording it. The group formed by the tall red
sandstone tower of the church seen from here, amid the trees, with
the long rambling buildings of the “Anchor” inn below, and the
packhorse bridge to the left, is charming. The present writer said as
much to the chauffeur of a motorcar, halted here by the roadside. It
seemed a favourable opportunity for testing the attitude of such an
one towards scenery and these interesting vestiges of eld.
“Bridge, ain’t it?” he asked, jerking a dirty finger in that direction.
“Yes: that is the old packhorse bridge, in use before wheeled
traffic came much this way.”
“’Ow did they carry their ’eavy machinery, then?”
“Our ancestors had none.”
“Then what about the farm-waggons?”
“They went through the stream.”
“Kerridges too?”
“Yes, such as the carriages of those times were.”
“’Eavens,” said he, summing up; “what ’eathenish times to live in!”
And he proceeded with his work, which turned out, on closer
inspection, to be that of plentifully oiling the fore and aft
identification-plates of his car, to the end that the dust which so
thickly covered the roads should adhere to them and obscure alike
the index-letters and the numbers. He was obviously proposing to
travel well up to legal limit.
The church is a noble example of the Perpendicular period, with
an ancient Court House adjoining, the property of the Roman
Catholic Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. It was made the home of a
French Benedictine sisterhood in 1807; and is now a Roman Catholic
Industrial School for boys. The tall, timeworn enclosing walls of its
grounds form a prominent feature of the village.
One of the monuments on the walls of the church, in the course of
a flatulent epitaph upon the virtues of various members of the
Rogers family, of early seventeenth-century date, indulges in a
lamentable pun. The subject under consideration is “Amy, daughter
of Henry Rogers.” “Shee,” we are told, “did Amy-able live.”
Deplorable!
Cannington stands at the entrance to the Quantock country, that
delightful rural district of wooded hills and secluded combes which
remains very much the same as it was just over a century ago, when
Coleridge and his friends first made it known. The Quantock Hills run
for some twelve miles in a north-westerly direction, from Taunton to
the sea at West Quantoxhead; the high road from Bridgwater to
Minehead crossing the ridge of them at Quantoxhead. The highest
point of this range is Will’s Neck, midway, rising to 1262 feet. The
capital of the Quantock country, although by no means situated on
or near the ridge, is Nether Stowey. Behind that village rises the
camp-crowned hill of Danesborough, which, although not itself
remarkably high, is so situated that it commands an exceptionally
fine panoramic view extending over the flat lands that border the
Parret estuary, and over the semicircular sweep of Bridgwater Bay.
NETHER STOWEY.
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