Staying sane with my new Dutch pen pal

GLOBAL pen pals suddenly feel important. In Rio last weekend on a Friday night in a teeming bar, drinking cold shots of beer, I made friends with a Dutch entrepreneur, who arrived in Brazil nine years ago and built their version of Ebay. We were already observing social distancing, Brazil was fast heading into lockdown. It felt like the last night out and we stayed out late drinking. Schools had already been closed. They had just announced the beaches would shut by Monday.

Only hours earlier Ipanema Beach had felt like the most glamorous, heady place I had ever been fortunate enough to visit. Footballs bounced back and forth as the sun set. Perhaps the sense of impending doom made Andries and I stay in touch, when normally we never would. Now we flip memes and share news from our respective countries most days. What would have felt like separate lives feel the same.

Urgent board meetings held remotely while we juggle children and work. His company vastly outstrips mine, but globally we are sharing the discomfort of ever weirder disconnect as our lives mutate fast.

Reaching out across to fellow beings across the planet feels like a good plan for mental survival right now.

RISHI SUNAK feels like a Chancellor I can trust. Politics necessarily invites a few fragile and bumptious egos and I don’t say that judgmentally; it is not a career many would put themselves up for and extraordinary characters often succeed.

Sunak, pictured, has the air of a man at ease with himself, confident without being flash, and calm in the harsh spotlight of what feels like economic armageddon to the rest of us. The right politician for very uncertain times.