The government is reluctant to start talking about life after the lockdown for fear of diluting its social distancing message, but just as post-war planning started during world war two, long before the fighting was over, we too should start planning for the post-coronavirus world. The Beveridge report on our social insurance system came out in November 1942, when it was by no means certain we would win. And the Bretton Woods conference, which established the post-war financial system based on the International Monetary Fund and the modified gold standard linked to the US dollar, took place in July 1944.
It may seem far-fetched to compare the coronavirus crisis with the second world war, but we can now see that the economic dislocation is potentially on the same scale. The government could start by appointing a Cabinet minister and creating a new department to consider what could be done to support private enterprise.
The coronavirus crisis has already changed our priorities
One powerful lesson of the crisis is that it is a disadvantage to rely too heavily on foreign suppliers.
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