Andy Richardson: 'Hope dies last'
We’ve had the goats of Llandudno, the kangaroos of Adelaide and the deer of Dagnam Park.
But a more important battle in the animal kingdom is looming now that Boris Johnson is back at Number 10. Hawks and doves will make crucial decisions in coming days and weeks as the Government begins to ease lockdown.
The Covid-19 death toll is far higher than previously imagined. Factoring in care home deaths and deaths from other causes – for instance, people not seeking hospital treatment during the pandemic – has led to the highest weekly death toll since records began. The picture is frightening.
The economic outlook is equally grim. Companies that survive during the next 12 months will have to start from scratch in order to thrive in the new normal. They will walk, rather than run, to recovery. And that’s if they’re lucky enough to stick around.
Many high street stores will disappear, jobless totals will reach new highs, borrowing will make the financial crash look like a bad day at a penny arcade while individuals and the Government will have to repay colossal sums of borrowed money. Tax revenues will plummet and the cost of the welfare state will boom. The frontline has moved from our beloved NHS to care homes, where deaths and infections run rampant.
It is not all bad news. We have flattened the curve of covid-19 infections and the death rate has fallen. We are through the peak and the rate of community infection is below one.
Enter the doves and the hawks. A straight choice exists between those who are cautious about lifting lockdown for fear of a second wave and those who want to restart the economy to prevent catastrophic damage.
Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are thought to be on the side of the doves, preferring a safety-first approach with a longer lockdown. Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and International Trade Secretary Liz Truss are thought to be on the side of the hawks, eager to ease lockdown to limit economic damage. Such figures as Dominic Raab and Business Secretary Alok Sharma are somewhere between those camps. The side that wins the debate will have a profound effect on our daily life.
Science, meanwhile, searches for a cure and 100 labs are seeking a vaccine. They are working quickly. Hope dies last.
