Pain hits the boardroom

Doing the right thing in a national emergency in which people are dying in their hundreds, when a locked- down economy is crashing and the government is offering enormous subventions to business and workers, should not be that hard.

This is especially true when fund managers Schroders, Richard Buxton of Merian and the investment Association are telling executives that having asked investors and other stakeholders to make sacrifices they must renounce bonuses and volunteer pay cuts.

Match of the Day presenter gary Lineker, among others, suggests it is wrong to pressure Premier League players into taking pay cuts when captains of industry aren’t doing the same. That is not a comparison he should be able to make.

Some bosses, such as those at gambling giant gVC, which owns Ladbrokes Coral, are being obtuse. But the roll-call of industrialists taking the right steps grows longer each day. Willie Walsh of BA owner iAg was among the first to make a sacrifice. He has been joined by others including Taylor Wimpey boss Pete Redfern, nationwide chief

Joe garner, BT’s Philip Jansen and even former HBoS banker Andy Hornby now at The Restaurant group. Executives and writers at DMgT, owners of the Daily Mail, are being asked to do the same.

Clearly the banks – where bonuses are most common and where regulators have forced dividend cuts – would be a good place to start. But it would also be encouraging to see bosses of big oil and fast-moving consumer groups join the movement.

People talk of a better society emerging from the catastrophe. Among ways that this could happen is for pay committees of FTSE 350 firms to reset the whole bonus culture. A start has been made but investors and other stakeholders need to see a cascade of executives signing up.

Traffic signals

THE global economic outlook deteriorates by the day.

The latest blog from the iMF’s top economists declares the pandemic ‘has pushed the world into recession’. Capital Economics says the UK ‘is destined for the sharpest fall in economic outlook for over a century’.

All those who complained about postfinancial crisis austerity, when the jobless rate fell steeply, will quickly learn what a real slump looks like. Consumer confidence is at its lowest level since 2009 and forwardlooking surveys point to a fall of 15pc in output in the second quarter. in Japan, the government is about to embark on the biggest stimulus package, more than 15pc of gDP, in the country’s history.

no wonder questions about how to end lockdown are being asked. Economists gerard Lyons and Paul ormerod have put forwards a ‘traffic light’ approach. The first move will be from lockdown to red when more shops, but not all, would open as long as strict social distancing is observed.

Then red to amber, when unlimited car journeys would be permitted (in some cases substituting for public transport), compulsory wearing of masks and gloves on public transport with social distancing requirements. And finally green, when sporting occasions can return and mass transport returns to normal. Lyons and ormerod argue that only by ending lockdown can the economic, social and quality of life challenges be met.

The timing is tricky and the risks of a double peak in Covid-19 remain. But rising fiscal costs, estimated at £2.4bn a day by the CEBR, together with former Bank of England governor Lord King’s concern about a ‘rebellion’ against lockdown, make it imperative a process begins.

Home remedies

onE of the great mysteries of Britain’s campaign against the virus is that the quangocrats in charge were slow to call upon the acumen and resources of the Crick institute, universities and big pharma groups glaxosmithkline and Astrazeneca.

gSK’s top scientist, Hal Barron, is teaming up with nasdaq-quoted Vir Biotechnology. gSK is making a $250m (£200m) investment in Vir as part of a plan designed to bring the firm’s anti-viral antibody research to next-phase clinical trials in three to five months as a treatment for Covid-19. The firms will also co-operate on developing a vaccine using gSK’s technologies.

Making a new vaccines can be a long, hard slog. But we should put some faith in gSK as the creator of immunisation for cervical cancers, some forms of meningitis and shingles. Hope springs eternal.