Throughout the lockdown I’ve been nagged by a persistent thought. As I sit indoors and read the news; as I alternate between cooking and takeaways; as I venture outside into the socially-distanced streets; and as I listen to commentators catastrophise about lockdown Britain, it is there. The thought is simple: what if all this – the confinement and the fear and the confusion and the ever-rising death count – what if all this is the good part?
True, we are stuck indoors, but the scaffolding of our world looks much the same, even if we are not allowed to move about in it. What happens when the time comes to restart? When the shops finally reopen how many will still exist? And even then, how many will be able to survive the reduced custom that will surely result from people now wary of congregating in traditionally crowded places? What will happen as the months wear on and we have to start paying for all this? What will happen to inflation as trillions are pumped into the global economy? And what will people say and do when they no longer have jobs? When they can’t pay their rent or mortgage? And when they are poorer and sicker and angrier?
In terms of the economy: well, quite a lot, it seems.
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