A more sustainable capitalism will emerge from Covid-19 March 30, 2020 The main concern that is paralysing the financial markets right now is uncertainty. Investors and the business community are questioning how long this crisis will last, and when consumer and investor confidence will return, with no end in sight. But while none of us can predict the future, when it does return, one possible outcome [...]
China is using the coronavirus crisis to its advantage March 30, 2020 It is easy to lose your bearings while in self-isolation. Trust me, as I’m into the fourth week of quarantine here in Milan, I entirely understand. But baseline realities matter even more in a genuine crisis. One such truism was put best by John Stuart Mill: all it takes for evil to triumph in the [...]
DEBATE: Does the shift in police attitudes threaten British society? March 30, 2020 Does the shift in police attitudes threaten Britain’s free society after this crisis is over? YES, says Matt Kilcoyne, deputy director of the Adam Smith Institute. Our police keep us safe by consent. Overreach by rogue forces risks more than criminalising vast swathes of our society, it risks the very principle of our civilian police [...]
State could be landed with £8bn rail pension deficit March 29, 2020 Taxpayers could be on the hook for £8bn of railway pensions after the government effectively nationalised a portion of the rail system after coronavirus hit demand. The Telegraph reported that the massive government intervention could shift the pension deficit of franchises from the private sector to the public sector. The Department for Transport (DfT) last [...]
Extending the lockdown could have deadly consequences March 29, 2020 A week into what began as a three-week lockdown, the goalposts have been moved. Government ministers and health officials spent the weekend recalibrating expectations, making it clear that people must be prepared for these unprecedented measures to last into June, perhaps longer. The message from the government is that the measures cannot be lifted until [...]
Trump rolls back on New York coronavirus quarantine plan March 29, 2020 US President Donald Trump this weekend rowed back on suggestions that coronavirus-hit New York could be quarantined after criticism from the state’s governor. Trump said on Saturday afternoon that he might impose a ban on travel in and out of New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, the parts of the US worst-hit [...]
Coronavirus: Top central banker calls on governments and banks to do even more March 29, 2020 The head of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has urged governments and central banks to do more to aid their economies threatened by the coronavirus crisis. On Sunday, Agustín Carstens, general manager of the BIS, an umbrella organisation founded to foster cooperation between the world’s central banks, said more stringent solutions were needed than [...]
Public support for Boris Johnson’s coronavirus response soars March 29, 2020 Public approval of Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus has soared in the past week after announcing a police-enforced lockdown. A new ORB International survey has found that 67 per cent of Britons think the government has handled the coronavirus outbreak well – an 18 per cent increase from a week ago. A YouGov/Sky News also [...]
Coronavirus lockdown could last six months, says deputy chief medical officer March 29, 2020 The coronavirus lockdown could last up to six months or “plausibly” longer, according to deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries. In a press conference today, she said: “Over time, probably over the next six months, we will have a three week review [of the lockdown]. “So I think three weeks for review, two or [...]
Coronavirus: NHS warned in 2016 it could not handle a severe pandemic March 29, 2020 The NHS failed a major stress test three years ago to see if it could cope with a severe pandemic, but the results were never made public. The test revealed to ministers, including then health secretary Jeremy Hunt, that the health service would have a shortage of protective equipment, critical care beds and morgue capacity [...]