PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Just as we thought that 2021 would return to some sort of normality, reports of a new mutation of Covid emerging from South Africa changed all of that overnight and during the last few weeks, the so-called Omicron variant has spread like wildfire across the globe.  Fortunately, the initial data from those countries affected first suggests that whilst it is more infectious, it is a milder illness that largely resembles a common cold and, more importantly, the highly successful vaccination programme along with booster jabs has ensured higher levels of protection. Despite this, and largely because of the dearth of any real information about the variant at the time, governments around the World rushed to impose new restrictions which ranged from closing borders to restricting access to hospitality for unvaccinated citizens.  Here in the UK, a different approach was taken by each of the devolved nations and the UK Government with Wales imposing restrictions that some have argued ha...

As the economy slowly opens up, there is a growing consensus that the world of work will not return to the pre-pandemic practices and there will be a ‘new normal’ in employment practices as a result of the changes in everyone lives since March 2020. That view is backed by a recent report from accountancy giant PWC which surveyed over 2000 workers in the UK about their hopes and fears for this year and found that they wanted new skills, flexible working options and jobs that make a difference. Whilst this seems like good news for the economy, it is not all positive with only 37% of UK workers feeling positive about how the future world of work is likely to affect them as against 50% globally.  Most UK workers also believe that the jobs that are around today will still be here in the future although they understand that the very nature of work is changing with greater flexibility and more purpose-driven jobs. For example, the majority of UK workers are demanding a mix of home and in-...

  As we slowly but surely emerge from the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is becoming clear that whilst some things may return to what they were prior to last March’s first lockdown, other elements of our lives will have been changed irrevocably.  In particular, the fact that nearly all of us have had to stay at home for most of the last fourteen months means that our relationship with the locality in which we live has probably changed forever. This phenomenon was explored in a recent report from the thinktank Demos and financial business Legal & General that looked specifically at post-pandemic places. This was done through a poll of 20,000 adults in Britain during December 2020 and was followed up two months later with a series of focus groups The results are fascinating and reinforces the view that the way we perceive at ‘place’ has changed and actually become stronger during the pandemic which, of course, will cause a change in behaviour into the mediu...

Over the last few weeks, much of the focus of politicians and policymakers has been on containing the spread of Covid-19 and developing interventions that can sustain the economy at a time when the majority of businesses have been forced into lockdown. As the Prime Minister considers how to start relaxing the rules for both UK citizens and businesses, the focus is turning to the effect of the virus on the economy both in the immediate future and the long term. Whilst there is much speculation about the potential economic future of the UK, it is heartening that the Bank of England’s latest monetary policy report provides some guidance on this issue. In terms of the UK economy, the situation still remains uncertain and remains is highly dependent on how the pandemic evolves over the next few months and more importantly, how governments, households, businesses and financial markets respond to this change.  There remains an assumption, despite the tabloid headlines, that the social dis...