Coppola Comment

The economy slumbers in its induced coma. Businesses are closed, workers furloughed or laid off. But the astonishing headline falls in economic indicaters such as GDP and PMI conceal a grim reality. Businesses are closing not just because they have been ordered to do so, but because they are running out of money. And people who have lost their jobs or become ill are also running out of money. If businesses fail instead of being mothballed, the eventual economic recovery will be slow. And if people die of starvation or untreated disease, what is the point of the lockdown? Everyone agrees that there is an urgent need to get money to people and businesses so they can stay alive. But the waters are being muddied by terms such as "helicopter money" and "people's QE" being bandied about with little thought as to what they are, or whether they really would meet the current need. So I want to start by clarifying what, in my view, these terms mean. In my book, I

A few days ago, the vicar of my church helpfully sent me a booklet of daily meditations for Holy Week and a palm cross. Inevitably, coronavirus is a theme, and it seems appropriate: after all, the virus is so named because it resembles a "crown of thorns".  The meditation for Palm Sunday highlights Pilate's symbolic washing of his hands, absolving himself of any responsibility for the death of another, and asks how we feel about our own virus-induced hand washing ritual: How do you feel when you wash your hands, in the present time? Do you pray, sing or count as you wash? How does this influence the way you feel, as a Christian? How can this simple act, often done in our homes in isolation, be seen as an act of service? As I read these questions, I thought of the men I saw on Twitter moaning about their ravaged hands, unaccustomed to water and detergents. I wanted to remind them of the famous washing up liquid advert : "For hands that do dishes to be soft a