The Week UK - 28.03.2020

(Nandana) #1

NEWS 5


28 March 2020 THE WEEK


...and how they were covered


Atanyothertimeinourcountry’shistory,the


rescuepackageunveiledbyRishiSunaklast


weekwouldhavebeen“unimaginable”,said


TheTimes.Inhisthirdmajorinterventionin


justtendays,theChancellorannouncedaraft


ofmeasureswhichwereunprecedentedin


theirscope.Upendingdecadesofeconomic


orthodoxy,hesaidthestatewouldcover 8 0%


ofworkers’salaries–uptoalimitof£2,50 0


amonth–tokeepthemonthepayrollduring


thecrisis.It’s“oneofthemostgenerous


schemesofitskindanywhereintheworld”.


Andthat’snotall:Sunakalsopledgeda


£1, 000 ayearriseinUniversalCredit


payments;adeferraluntiltheendofJune


onbusinesses’VATpayments;anextension


ofinterest-freeloansupto£5mforsmall


businesses;and£1bntohelptenantson


welfare.Itallcomesatan“eye-wateringcost”


–anestimated£ 78 bn,ontopofthebusinessbailoutpackage


worth£350bnhehadannouncedalready–butthescaleof


thiseconomiccrisismeanttheGovernmenthad“nochoice”.


It’s a“huge gamble”, said Alex Brummerin theDailyMail.


What Britain is doingfar exceeds stepstaken byotherWestern


nations–though the US is nowfollowing suitwitha$2trn


stimuluspackage, sendingmarkets soaring.The Tories have


abandonedtheir usual “squeamishness” aboutpropping up


strugglingbusinesses, opting insteadto “save everything –


goodand bad–inthe greater publicinterest”.And,with


borrowingset to surge topay for thepackage, theBank of


England has chippedintoo. ItsnewGovernor,AndrewBailey,


slashed interest rates torecordlows–0.1% –andunveiled a


£200bn quantitativeeasing programme,pumping money


directly into the economy. Thisis themostfar-reaching


packageto protect workers andbusinessesin our nation’s


history: “All we cando nowis prayitworks.”


Thereformsaremassive,agreedChristopher Pissaridesinthe


FT–butthey stilldon’t gofar enough.Sure, you’re protected


ifyou’reinfull-timeemployment.Buthelp


fortheUK’sfivemillionself-employedis


“conspicuouslyabsent”;they’vesofaronly


beenofferedbenefitsequivalenttostatutory


sickpay,£ 94 aweek.Thesepeopledrivethe


UKeconomy:byfailingtohelpthem,werisk


harmingeffortstopropitup.Small


businessesarebeingbatteredtoo,saidEd


ConwayinTheTimes.Pubs,restaurantsand


hairdressersareimploding,whilethetravel


andhospitalityindustriesare“disintegrating”.


We’renowinthe“worstrecessioninliving


memory”,saidAllisterHeathinTheDaily


Telegraph.Thousandshavelosttheirjobs


already,andmillionsmorewillfollow.GDP


couldplungebyasmuchas15%.Andwhile


crashesinthepasthavehada“cleansing”


effect,forcingbadbusinessestocloseand


divertingresourcestogrowthindustries,this


oneisdifferent:“Thereisnothingcreativeaboutthenihilistic


destructionitiswreaking.”Sunak’scureisanecessaryone,


saidJeremyWarnerinthesamepaper,butitwillcomeat


aterriblecost.Britainfaces“humongous”increasesin


borrowing,leavingfuture generationsburdenedwith


intolerable debtandhigher taxes.


Maybe so,said Will HuttoninThe Observer,but they should


stillbe deeplygrateful to Britain’s youngChancellor.Our


financial systemapproachedtotal breakdown lastweek; the


Bank of Englandeven cameclose toshutting marketsto stop


the freefall. But, amidstthe turmoil,Sunak proved himself


to be “highlyintelligent, economicallyliterate, agile”and


politicallysavvy, offeringleadership anddecisiveness.


Now, governmentsacross Europe andinNorthAmericaare


followinghis example,unveilingtheir ownstimulus plans on


similarscales.Economistshave beenmodelling acrisis like this


for years,said TorstenBellin the same paper–andestimates


of a5%fall in globalGDP look about right. Thereis, though,


aglimmer ofhope.“Growth picksup prettyquickly post


pandemic–ourjobis togetthere.”


Sunak:rippinguptherulebook


The £400bn bailout: can it stave off disaster?


What kind ofanation are we? What are we British people to make


of ourselves at this time of national crisis? Health Secretary Matt


Hancock would have us display the same qualities our grandparents


showedduringtheWar:rallyingtogether, keepingcalm, soldiering on. But judgingfrom thenegative


response to his exhortation, what best defines the spirit of the nation right now is something quite


different:adelight in doing ourselves down. On the one side, we have those–67% of respondents to


aDaily Express poll, for example–who feel we’re no longer capable of such stoicism. “I was born in


early WWII, and remember the Blitz spirit,” as one put it. “Today’s selfish generation wouldn’t under-


stand what it meant.” On the other, we have those, generally more leftish in outlook, who deny there


was any such thing asaBlitz spirit in the first place. It was “bunk”, they say:amyth (see page 17).


Of course, if you look for bad behaviour, it’s never hard to find. In 1939, people were just as self-


seeking when the crisis broke as 2020’s stockpilers. “The call for restraint was widely ignored,” says


Barry Turner in The Times. “Tins of meat, baked beans, cheese, biscuits and fruit were swept from


the shelves.” One woman pitched up ataDorset garage withabig dustbin, insisting it be filled with


petrol. Yet who we are, what defines us, is as much what we strive to be as how we actually behave.


As acts of kindness spread across Britain, as we stoically greet each other across our two-metre


divides, the myth of who we once were can give shape to what we become.


THEWEEK


Jeremy O'Grady


Subscriptions: 0330-3339494;[email protected]©DennisPublishingLimited2020. All rights reserved.


The Week isaregistered trademark. Neither the whole of this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored


in aretrieval system or transmitted in anyformor by anymeanswithoutthewrittenpermission of the publishers


Editorial:W2 3RX.Tel: 020-389The Week Ltd, 2nd Floor 03787 ,32Queensway,London
email: [email protected]

THE WEEKPlace, London WC1E 7DP. Tel: 020-3890 3890Ltd,asubsidiary of Dennis, 31-32 Alfred


ProductioExecutive:nManager:SophieGriffinMaaya MistryNewstrade Director:ProductionDavid
BarkerDirectMarketing Director:Abi SpoonerAccount
Manager/Inserts:Rebecca Seetanah, Nicholas FisherJackReaderClassified:Account Directors:HenryHaselock,
Lauren Shrigley, Jonathan ClaxtAccountManager:JoeTealSales Executive:on, HattieWhiteClement AroSenior
AdvertisinGrou pAdvertis ing Director:gManager:Carly AcCarolintivilleeFenner
Founder:Jolyon Connell
ChiefExecutive, The Week:Kerin O’Connor
Chief Executive:JamesTye
DennisPublishingfounder:FelixDennis

Editor-in-chief:Editor:Theo TaitCaroline Law
Deputy editor:HarryNicolleExecutive editor:LaurenceEarle
City editor:Contributing editors:JaneLewisDani el Cohen,Assistanteditor:SimonRobin de PeyerWilson,
Rob McLuhan, CatherinYarwood,Willi am SkidelskyeHeaneyEditorial staff:,Digby Warde-Aldam, TomAnoushkaPetit,
Tigger Ridgwellassistant:Asya Likh,SorchaBradley, Aaron DrapkintmanPicture editor:Xan dieNuttingEditorial
Art director:Productioneditor:Nath alie FowlerAlanna O’ConnellSub-editor:TomCobbe
Editorialchairman and co-founder:Jeremy O’Grady

·The ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands is being converted


into afield hospital, with 500 beds initially, rising to 4,000. The


conference centre has been renamed NHS Nightingale, and is


due to start accepting Covid-19 patients within days.


·Some 24,000 final year medical and nursing students are


being moved into front-line work at the NHS. They will be joined


by thousands of recently retired doctors and other medics,


boosting overall NHS numbers by 35,000.


·Dyson has announced that it is designing new medical


ventilators for the NHS, in response toagovernmentrequest


forhelp.AconsortiumofothermajorUK-basedmanufacturers,


includingSiemens,McClarenandGKN,hasofferedtoproduce


tensofthousandsofventilatorstoexistingdesigns.


·Twenty-seven million people tuned in live to watch Boris


Johnson’s televised address on Monday announcing the


lockdown, three million more than watched the closing


ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012.


·An appeal for volunteers to support the NHS attracted 170,


responses overnight. The idea is to create an army of 250,


volunteers. For details, see goodsamapp.org/NHS.

Free download pdf