“Never again will a single story be told as though it were the only one.” – John Berger. With these words, Vertigo’s last editorial, on diversity, was anchored. The implications of his challenging observation are again explored throughout this issue, as we concern ourselves with what is told, the way in which it is communicated, and with its place in a world seemingly spilling over with stories. However, despite the passing of the once dominant ‘grand narratives’, when it comes to the largest frameworks of our global economic, social and political order, an all too singular tale still gets most of the airtime. Monocultures are always imperial, whether wheat strains, trading systems or divinities, but they are also vulnerable, because the (often blatantly manufactured) absolutes they claim to offer are so obviously partial and exclusive.