Coronanomics – “An enormous moral decision”

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Change your life. Do everything differently.” Is Government rising to the Corona crisis? How can it ensure that state aid helps employees and businesses and doesn’t go straight into owners’ pockets? Have we fallen for a dangerous form of British exceptionalism in our approach? Will some form of Universal Basic Income prove to be inevitable to get us through this? And does Boris Johnson need to do a bit more than just listen to the experts? Special guests Matthew Parris of The Times and IfG fellow Jill Rutter join Bronwen Maddox and Cath Haddon to discuss the economic and legal backdrop to the most serious crisis in modern British history. “Governments have made an enormous moral choice in sacrificing the economic well-being of younger people simply to keep the older generation alive. I’m not sure they’ve made the right choice.” - Matthew Parris “Even though I was in government for a long time, I never encountered an emergency like this.” – Jill Rutter “It’s all very well saying this is temporary, but tell that to your bank manager.” – Matthew Parris Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon and special guests Matthew Parris and Jill Rutter. Audio production by Alex Rees. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome back to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:15.4	I'm Bronwyn Nadix.
0:17.0	Where to begin?
0:18.2	For a start, we're not in a studio.
0:20.2	That's been shut down. But our podcast hasn't been. Instead, we're going to have to get used to meeting virtually, as are so many families, colleagues, friends, as offices close, schools shut and the government recommends against all unnecessary social contact. Almost every day, the fight against coronavirus is taken to a new level. This really is
0:39.2	extraordinary, a word I suspect we might come to overuse, though with some reason. Life, as we know
0:44.9	is being reshaped. Just a week ago, the rewriting of daily life, the instructions we're taking
0:51.0	from our government on just how to do that would have seemed really
0:54.4	unbelievable. But the government has been shutting down the country as if it's pulling one giant
0:59.5	imaginary lever after another. A nationwide closure of schools is the latest, the first in British
1:05.8	history. At the same time, it's also scrambling to support the many businesses and people who are now
1:10.6	facing real financial and personal calamities as a result of the steps that are essential for public health.
1:17.5	So what is the government doing to support them?
1:19.5	And when we do get through, when coronavirus passes through, as Donald Trump is fond of saying, or I hope it's defeated by scientific ingenuity and government action,
1:29.0	will people's expectations of government have been permanently changed?
1:33.4	Joining me via laptops and iPhones is the IFG's resident historian, Kath Haddon.
1:38.6	Kath, where are you?
1:40.2	I'm at home at the moment, obviously facing away from my view out the window, but thus far, managing OK, to sort of work with you all and quite enjoying this novel experience.
1:54.1	Good to hear your voice.
1:55.4	And on the podcast for the first time, a big welcome to the IFG senior fellow, Jill Rutter, also a former civil servant.
2:01.0	Jill, great to have you here or sort of here. How have you been?
2:04.3	I'm all right. I'm sitting rather too much time on my sofa, I think, at the moment.
	...

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