Editorial: Government’s record on the economy has been impressive – but the toughest months lie ahead
Editorial: Without the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the economy would have fallen into a slump from which it would not have recovered – even so, the economic aftershocks of Covid will persist for years
’s performance on meeting the medical challenge has been appalling.By contrast, the government’s record on protecting the economy has been much more impressive. The fact that unemployment has risen to a four-year high of five per cent of the workforce – some 1.7 million people – is obviously disappointing. But without the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the various other measures, this figure would not only be higher but pushing the economy into a slump from which it would be impossible to break free. It is a disaster that never happened because of international efforts to save the world from a deep recession.
Even so, the economy faces difficulties in the months ahead. Some patients who survive Covid emerge from hospital with life-changing disabilities. These are still not properly understood, but they could well deprive people of their incomes and quality of life for years, if not decades, to come.
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Duke and Duchess of Sussex tell the Queen will not return as working members of Royal Family
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have told the Queen they will not return as working members of Royal Family, Buckingham Palace says.
Is taking on massive amounts of debt, printing unprecedented money and spending uncontrollably really defined as “impressive” these days? If so, you’d love to see my father in-law at our annual holiday game of monopoly.... Aren’t we the worst performing major economy of the last year? Glad to see the economy has survived... just a shame about the almost 100,000 people that had to die.
Are you fucking insane?