I must admit in some ways I feel sorry for Johnson. (Did I just say that?) He took over as PM at the start of this year, had a huge majority with Corbyn as a spent force in opposition and was able to force Brexit at the end of January with a "friendly" Trump in Washington DC looking to do a trade deal to help the MAGA story: Johnson was going to emulate his hero Churchill and lead the UK into his vision of the future - he'd go down in history as a big vision leader (others could sort out the messy details) with a quirky wit that amused the anti EU plebs and lords alike. Then along comes Covid-19: he's now out of his depth, he doesn't understand the science, he's got all these scientists telling him things he doesn't really understand (perhaps he was, like many of the UK population who lazily bury their heads and say "maths is too difficult", looking up exponential functions on Wikipedia?) and, more importantly, doesn't like because they interfere with his plans for grandeur! And there's this annoying barrister with an attention to detail who keeps tripping him up in the Commons because he reads his briefs - that's not cricket! Initially tries to put a brave face on and ignore it, hoping it goes away and he goes around high risk areas making a point of shaking hands - look mum, I'm not frightened - but he just might be unwise? Then the evidence is compelling and he has to lock down and that hand shaking bravado catches up with him - he gets Covid and has a bad time of it. In the mean time his " yes, sir" government faffs around a bit keeping things moving with the help of scientists, the NHS and military who have the competencies - but unfortunately care homes fall through the holes and procurement of PPE is left too late. Only Sunak seems to know what he's doing to stave off a total financial disaster.So, anyway, Johnson recovers, we seem to flatten the curve and we're looking to see where we're going. Johnson, though, is still out of his depth. By nature he's an optimist but many of the experts he's dealing with seem to be taking a pessimistic worst case position and talking about second waves, the complexity of flu in winter, plus his chum Trump is distracted by having messed up the US Covid response and may not be around at the end of the year to sign off trade deals and the EU negotiations aren't as "easy" as some naively thought. And the Chinese are taking advantage of the whole mess. Johnson's lost. Now the best advice I've heard recently from a business turnaround and change group of people is forget optimism and pessimism - it's realism that counts. It's unlikely there'll be a vaccine before the end of the year. Can your business survive that? Does you business work well without going into the office? Was you business looking shaky anyway? How does your "free" internet service make a profit and generate cash? Can you get the trade deals you want by the end of the year? Perhaps best close you business now and look wha the opportunities are in the new world post pandemic? Give up those city offices and those long, uncomfortable commutes? What other uses are there for those empty offices? Get more time to negotiate decent trade deal rather than rushing and regret? Can you get herd immunity for Sars viruses, particularly CV19? Johnson must be honest, accept and tell people the pandermic will accelerate change and things will be different, we're just not exactly sure how and what at present, and how long this evolution will take ...
Michael Ixer ● 2089d