Tuesday 14 December 2021 7:00 am<\/p>\n
Who would have thought that just five years after the Brexit referendum, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin and the CBI would be back on the same side. Truly, Covid-19 has made for the strangest of bedfellows.<\/p>\n
Both have railed, reasonably, against the new Plan B restrictions which are well on their way to being passed into law this afternoon with the help of the Labour party.<\/p>\n
Their frustrations are myriad, but chiefly come down to two grievances: one, that Government is creating what CBI boss Tony Danker calls a lockdown mentality, and two, that city centres are being particularly battered by the new restrictions.<\/p>\n
They are both right, on both points. One can understand the Governments desire to up the ante on the need for booster jabs.<\/p>\n
The round-the-block queues at the nearest walk-in centre to our office, across the river at Guys Hospital in London Bridge, certainly suggested that the pace of the booster rollout is set for a sizable bump.<\/p>\n
Putting the fear of God in the British populace with predictions of a million cases a day by the end of the month may be politically expedient, then, but it does not do much for business confidence.<\/p>\n
Some rationalism is called for. More than four in 10 Brits over the age of 12 have had the booster jab; within a week that should be comfortably more than half, and by the end of the year so many more than that.<\/p>\n
The growing evidence is that this new variant (which will not be the last) is milder than previous strains; ditto, there are growing signs that a booster jab is effective at fighting Omicron.<\/p>\n
That is not an argument to let it rip but it is a solid enough evidence base to suggest that come January we may be in a position to relax these new rules and allow us to start 2022 on a brighter note than we are currently set for.<\/p>\n
If the Government could do its best not to knife the entire hospitality industry in the process, all the better.<\/p>\n
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Go here to read the rest: <\/p>\n
Some rationality called for amidst the drumbeat to restrictions - City A.M.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tuesday 14 December 2021 7:00 am Who would have thought that just five years after the Brexit referendum, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin and the CBI would be back on the same side. Continue reading