Covid-19’s ill wind will eventually bring some good
AT THE start of his great novel about the French revolution, A Tale Of Two Cities, Dickens wrote that “the winter of despair” was matched by “the spring of hope”.
Today, alarm at the spread of the coronavirus is accompanied by a new spirit of solidarity, as we learn once more the importance of compassion for family, friends and neighbours.
Money is pouring into charities such as the Red Cross. More than 1,000 volunteer groups have been set up to help those self-isolating during the outbreak.
Understandably, there is profound apprehension at the revolution that is now rippling through our society. As the country goes into lockdown and the economy teeters on the edge of the abyss, it is obvious that the crisis will herald fundamental changes in our society.
Anyone who thinks that life will return to normal at the end of the current emergency is severely deluded. On the contrary, so many aspects of our world will be permanently transformed – some, thankfully, for the better.
IN JUST a fortnight, the disaster has already led to extraordinary economic upheaval, with the Government embarking on by far the biggest bailout in British history.
“We are all socialists now,” declared the Liberal Chancellor Sir William Harcourt when he introduced his tax-raising Budget in 1894. Those words are even more appropriate now, as the Tories underwrite 80 per cent of private-sector wages, pour money into the NHS, massively extend welfare benefits, and introduce a colossal rescue package.
In effect, the state has nationalised the economy, something even Jeremy Corbyn did not dare propose at the last election.
Yet, even when coronavirus is beaten and the economy starts to recover again, there will be a powerful legacy of greater support of the NHS and other public services. The idea that the NHS can limp along, underfunded and overstretched, will no longer be tolerable. Elderly people are in the eye of the coronavirus storm and the most compelling lesson we can learn is to give them the dignity they deserve.
The crisis is forcing us to rethink other values. The current hierarchy of financial rewards seems grotesquely inverted. A fortune is lavished on people like hedge fund managers, property speculators and television celebrities.
Yet the heroes who have really kept our society functioning through the crisis, such as NHS staff, refuse collectors, shelf-stackers and lorry drivers, are often badly paid. It is an outrage that care home assistants regularly have to struggle on the minimum wage while many Premiership footballers earn more than £250,000 a week. In the looming revolution, there will be huge pressure for a fairer pay structure.
After Covid-19, borders will almost certainly be strengthened, with less immigration, not least because mass unemployment will lower demands for foreign labour. Globalisation may come to a dramatic halt, now the virus has revealed how vulnerable it has left us.
There will be moves to strengthen our domestic supply lines and rebuild our manufacturing base. International travel will take a massive hit, with much of our aviation sector obliterated. But ever greater numbers will holiday in Britain, greatly reducing our carbon footprint, fulfilling the dream of green warrior Greta Thunberg.
The Covid-19 revolution will also see a huge permanent increase in home working. The office, for so long a symbol of our civilisation, could soon look increasingly redundant.
Commercial property will plummet in value, while there could also be a dramatic fall in train passengers and motorists as commuting evaporates. But a less frenzied Britain will also be a less congested and less polluted land. And in an environment of web-working, vast infrastructure projects such as HS2 will lose their justification.
THERE could be a revival of rural and coastal areas, as well as deflation of the property bubbles in places like London, making homes more affordable.
Eating out will probably decline, though home entertainment will grow. Politics could become less partisan and more concerned with the national interest. Concerns about infection might make our sexual attitudes more restrained. There will be more respect for science and medicine.
The revolution triggered by coronavirus will have a tremendous impact on our society. But what appears certain is that the essential decency and resilience of the British people will shine through.
‘Many aspects of our world will be transformed – some for the better’