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THE WEEK IN RETAIL ISSUE 44
EDITOR’S COMMENT
WHAT TO MAKE OF THE ROADMAP DRAWN ON SHIFTING SAND?
So, as of 21 June, all will be well with the world once more, will it? If Boris is right – and let’s hope for once he is – then it would be a very welcome development for all concerned. But on the balance of probability, history and common sense, it just doesn’t seem likely, does it? Free and clear and out of the woods in under four months?
The joint recent roadmap announcements by Boris and Nicola were pretty standard fare for the pair, very much in line with their past approaches to the situation. Boris full of exuberant and unwarranted optimism and a penchant for pseudo-Churchillian phrasing and Nicola full of grim caution, stern warnings and harsh realities.
Boris talks of “a one way road to freedom” and his “cautious but irreversible” plan. He ends with his projection that England could be fully out of restrictions of all kind by 21 June. Nicola talks of not wanting to provide “false clarity” and steers clear of providing an end date for all restrictions because she would “pretty much be making it up”.
You can understand the PM’s desire to offer a bit of hope to the nation, but you can equally understand the FM’s desire not to be offering false clarity, or false hope.
Politics aside, I suspect many people would prefer a cold, calculated and realistic path out of this epic saga, even if it takes a little longer, rather than ‘fight them on the beaches’ bravado and bluster.
I also suspect many people would agree that, at this point, we don’t need our flagging spirits rekindled as much as we need a clear roadmap out of Covid-19. A clear roadmap that is credible and which provides a platform for us to start planning for the future. So much has changed, so much will continue to change – even when Covid-19 is gone – that we all need to be able to start working together again to rebuild an economy in tatters, and for that we need clarity. Genuine, true clarity.
As for 21 June? I wouldn’t go organising any big knees-ups just yet.
