When governments say -rightly - that fighting a pandemic means businesses have to close and people can’t make a living, governments have to accept their obligation to keep people as close to whole as possible
Governments need to respect expert advice from officials of all kinds, but remember the hardworking people giving that advice have guaranteed salaries and pensions. The programs to deal with the fallout of #Lockdown have to be transparent and speedily accessible
If this doesn’t happen, people will insist on being able to make a living. The hope leaders offer has to be matched by bold deeds that may not have been contemplated even a week ago. The events since January have changed things irreversibly
By its very nature expert and bureaucratic advice is based on rule books and established precedent. There is no precedent for what governments are facing. Political leaders need to talk with each other, and also listen to their own hearts and minds.
Trial and error are better than sticking to outdated plans and paradigms. Most governments are responding but all can do more, creativity and innovation must be adopted and applied. Working together, in solidarity, we can get there
The economic boom of the past was not matched by a matching set of mutual obligations. This boom, uniquely, has been stopped by governments in a good cause - public health in the face of pandemic. The obligation is clear. Our sense of solidarity - the love we owe each other
Will require an unprecedented level of public support and,yes, expenditure. A failure to embrace this effectively and with all due speed will result in equally unprecedented levels of public anger and frustration.
