70 TIME March 1/March 8, 2021
RISHI
SUNAK
40 • Steering
Britain’s economy
Little more than a year ago,
Rishi Sunak was an unknown
junior minister in the British
government. But after the
40-year-old former hedge-fund
partner was appointed to
lead Britain’s Treasury in
February 2020, he quickly
became the benevolent face
of the government’s response
to the COVID-19 pandemic,
approving large handouts
for many citizens whose jobs
were disrupted by the virus.
(The already unemployed
and self-employed received
less support.) Sunak also
oversaw a policy that, when
infections were low over the
summer, subsidized dining out
at restaurants in an attempt
to revive the economy. The
perceived generosity—and his
youthful charm—earned him
a legion of fans, but his policy
was blamed when cases of
COVID-19 began to rise shortly
after. Critics also point out that
because he has consistently
advocated for early relaxation
of lockdown rules, Sunak bears
perhaps more responsibility
than most for Britain’s failures
in responding to the virus,
which has left more than
115,000 people dead—the
fi fth highest toll in the world.
Nonetheless, Sunak remains
the country’s most popular
politician, according to the
pollster YouGov. And he’s the
oddsmakers’ favorite to be
Britain’s next Prime Minister.
—Billy PerrigoYvonne Aki-Sawyerr53 • FREETOWN’S
FUTUREBY IDRIS ELBAI got to witness Yvonne Aki-
Sawyerr’s energy fi rsthand when
I met her on my fi rst visit to
Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital
city, in 2019. I’m a son of the soil,
and during my stay, she gave me a
lot of time and a lot of information
about her work and vision as the
mayor of Freetown. I was taking
notes because, you know, Yvonne
has plans.
Yvonne is the fi rst female
mayor to lead the city in decades,
elected in 2018 after more than
25 years working in the public and
private sectors. In January 2019,
she launched the Transform
Freetown initiative, a three-year,
multi pronged plan for the city’s
development. Whether it’s in her
efforts to clean up Freetown’s
streets, fi x its drainage systems,
plant a million trees or implement
property tax reform, Yvonne
comes to her work as someone
with a practical perspective on
how to reinstate the glory of
Freetown. Her young energy,
genuine dynamism and can-do
spirit are inspiring.Elba is an actor and a producer100 next