We were lucky enough to have our UK car nicked last week. I guess it was some "Robin Hoodish" type character who was worried we might not be able to meet the monthly payments due to the Coronavirus and thought the insurance company should be responsible instead.
**** me, our company works in the events industry, and as expected we have had massive cancellations for March and April. However, in the last couple of days we have started to see some very big events cancelling for June and July. These events are large enough that I expect they would have taken government advice in the background. We are really in this for the long haul. My rolling 12 month contract gets renewed on the 1st April. I think I may be needing some of that bog roll if anyone has any going spare!!
I wasn't going to buy them as we have enough of that stuff (my missus has literally every cleaning product under the sun), i just happened to notice them as I was walking past. I was in Asda just after 7am this morning and managed to nab a pack of bog rolls and a few other bits, there was no pasta whatsoever. Got another pack of bog roll from Aldi on my way home, no pasta there either but plenty meat and stuff as they had just opened but it was flying out of the fridges quite quickly. Managed to grab a couple of bags of pasta at local co-op next to home so I'm pretty sorted for a good while now.....and I didn't have to resort to violence thankfully. People seemed to be being quite sensible.
Marathons postponed, Glasto cancelled now and probably most of the rest of the summer festivals will follow suit. Strange to be cancelling stuff so far away so soon but I'm sure there are reasons for it. It's gonna be a week to 10 days before we really see how bad this is going to get I think but I don't think we'll get anywhere near Italy despite what the government and scientists are predicting....which is always worst case.
Italy, with a history of getting some big decisions a bit wrong, shut down the country - but failed to communicate a lot of the reasons why. Subsequently Northern Italy went "hooray, let's go on holiday together - we can pick up Nan and Grandad on the way" and effectively drove into the infection with the elderly.
Serious question for any people of a financial persuasion - what happens to Fat Mike in all this? He famously stated that his money was "in the wallpaper", meaning his "wealth" was purely the result of share and share value. Nobody is going to go into his filthy tat shops and empty those shelves. How much at risk of bankruptcy is the fat tosser? Seems to me that selling Newcastle United is actually going to be his only course of action. Funny how things work out sometimes...
I am no expert, but if all his wealth is tied up in shares I wouldn't have thought he'd be at any risk of bankrupcy. He'll just be worth a hell of a lot less once this is all over. I would see it more as being like losing your savings rather than losing your house.
As it stands, the history of the last 150 or so years would dictate not to follow the advice or actions of the Italian governments which seem to consistently make poor decisions. So, as they have an economy that was already on the brink of complete collapse, I can only presume that once this disaster is over with we will be facing the repercussions of the Italian economy going as poor as Greece's. Which will be a huge Eurozone crisis everyone will no doubt have to pump even more money into. At this stage, usually the countries who are half heatedly in the EU start to waver and #doubt so we will see lots of tensions on the continent soon. Of course the UK will pull away from the issues, citing Brexit, as will EEA countries like Norway and Switzerland who are always conveniently "not really in" the EU when these things happen. The long term repercussions of France, Spain and Italy shutting down their already relatively weak economies will be likely more disastrous than this pandemic. Not to mention, the complete lockdown hasn't even produced results.
Why? It hasn't even produced results. Every country that has closed schools has seen a standard increase in infections at the same rate as countries with kids in schools. As kids who aren't in school are outside, using the public services that are caked in germs, or gathering in malls and McDonalds' and other public places en masse. Schools can control the cleanliness of the interior of their buildings, they can sanitize, they can check temperatures and they can most importantly know exactly where all the kids are. Not to mention it can prolong the amount of time the economy can continue to function at a normal rate as people continue to work. Kicking everyone out at home is only theoretically helpful, people still need to go buy food, or important supplies. Shoving people into their apartments/homes middle of the month when money is waning and saying "we'll fine you if you come out" is just a panic button response and likely a waste of time and public resources.
Nope, i normally buy two packs of bog-roll when we run low so i've done exactly as I otherwise would have. I'll buy more when I have half a pack left...assuming that there is some left in the world to purchase. Two packs of spaghetti and a packet of Penne is hardly stockpiling like !