When I wrote my piece for 2020 I like thousands of others, saw 2020 as The ‘Brexit’ Year. The country had elected a special Government under Boris to ‘get it done’. Everyone was waiting for the New World; we would have ‘our country’ back and Britain would be great again.

We knew in December that the Coronavirus had appeared in China. But at that time and with the euphoria of Boris’s success, it seemed a long way away; something to be watched like spectators watching football on TV. We saw people being confined to their homes, shops closed, factories shut down, people running around in strange clothing and we were told that people were dying. But we could switch off the TV and go to bed; it was all a long way away. By the end of January it was clear that we would be involved and if the Government did not want 20,000 deaths on its hands something had to be done.

Now we are near the end of April, in Lock-Down, on our way to 20,000 deaths, if not already there, with a ‘broken’ economy and no vison of our future. From a learning perspective there is much to be learnt from the experience thus far. There are already discussions about what we could have done but has little value now. To resolve our current situation we need to start with the real problem; clarify the key l issues, agree with all stakeholders where we want to be in 2021. Decide strategies, produce a plan to get there and empower those who can, to deliver it. Do we have the will to do this? Today it seems that at last laisse faire is on its way out so we will see!

Note. Whilst many Governments in the world will, once the virus is under control, focus on putting the ‘wheels back on the economic wagon’. However all problems are opportunities in disguise and the bigger the problem the greater the opportunity. For those Governments seeking change, this situation provides the opportunity for integrating desired change(s) into the agreed solution(s) of the problem (s). It seems that the Greek Government is already doing this.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/how-greece-is-beating-coronavirus-despite-a-decade-of-debt

George Boulden April 2020