We can't keep going into lockdown - Ian Carrotte on how the Government's Covid-19 policy is destroying business and creating the worst recession in living memory
End these insane lockdowns and the Covid-19 hysteria now before the country is totally ruined.
Lockdowns destroy businesses despite the furlough scheme, loans and grants as industry cannot stop and start on the dictate of a Cabinet minister or a medical adviser.
Lockdowns prevent people having their cancer scans, health checks and operations as many are terrified by the coverage that Covid-19 gets in the media. And that fear factor has clouded the minds of many to an extent they would rather stay at home with a serious medical problem than dial 999.
Lockdowns are not necessary as Sweden has shown. Sensible precautions and social distancing has meant their economy has not been ruined while the death rate is no different from most equivalent Western nations. And yet they have encouraged social distancing, mask wearing and working at home if possible but the draconian measures the UK have introduced were not put into law. They treated their citizens as grown-ups.
With lockdowns there is the dubious legal aspect as outlined by the former supreme court judge Jonathan Sumption this week. The government has effectively outlawed dissent, placing most of the population under a type of house arrest and banning a range of activities and civil liberties such as playing tennis that you would associate with a totalitarian state. And this is supposed to be a libertarian Conservative Party in office. Instead we have a small group of people who have never run a business or not known where their next pay cheque will come from making all the decisions. Decisions which often fly in the face of common sense. They appear out of touch with the business community and out of touch with the lives of normal people. No wonder the likes of the chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady is on the warpath.
The Office of National Statistics (that’s the Government’s own compiler of information) continues to publish data about the effects of the pandemic and the way it is being tackled that contradict the views of Downing Street. The numbers of excess deaths in comparison to previous years that are not attributed to Covid-19 is now running in the tens of thousands. Suicides, mental illness and domestic violence are all up. In short the cure is as bad as the way the virus is being tackled.
And then there is the effect on jobs, businesses and the economy. And I’ve not even mentioned the massive borrowing by the Chancellor to pay for all the schemes.
We’ve got a Brexit trade deal to sort out, a full scale recession in progress, record numbers of businesses calling it a day, a potential trade deal with the USA in the balance and millions out of work together with a lost generation of young people.
I speak to businesses every day at ICSM Credit and there is real concern that they have been forgotten. Around a million self-employed haven’t received a penny in the lockdowns, sole traders as Limited companies have been missed out as has anyone starting a business since April 2019. And then there are the firms who can only survive by shedding jobs or closing and doing a phoenix.
Like many I do not have the confidence in the accuracy of the statics and graphs touted at press conferences by the powers that be. Yes we must protect the NHS so it isn’t over whelmed but surely with all what we’ve learnt this year it cannot be as bad as March when the virus killed so many.
I will say it and I will say it again. Like Sweden we must get used to the idea of living with Covid-19.
About ICSM Credit
ICSM Credit has more than four decades of experience as a credit intelligence group whose members gain inside information about firms in trouble allowing them to avoid bad debts and rogue traders. To join costs less than a tank of fuel - while at the moment there's a special free temporary membership offer during the Covid-19 crisis which gives access to free legal letters. ICSM also has an effective debt collecting service which has a global reach - ask for details from Paul.
For details about ICSM Credit call 0844 854 1850 or visit the website www.icsmcredit.com or email Ian at Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com on how to subscribe and to join the UK’s credit intelligence network to avoid bad debts and late payers. Follow ICSM Credit on FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube and Ian Carrotte on LinkedIn.
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For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk