Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Abi doing her history while Izzy relaxes having finished  her lesson early (I think) It's the end of week one of lockdown and we are living in a whole new era. After a weekend of lovely weather and less than acceptable behaviour from a small but significant sector of the population (ignoring the guidance to stay a safe distance away from each other and flocking to national parks and the beach in their droves), BoJo had his Churchill moment and told us in no uncertain terms that we now needed to follow the rules. Until further notice we can only leave the house for essential purposes; work that can't be done from home but can be done at a safe distance, shopping for food or medicines and limited exercise once a day. Pretty much every shop other than supermarkets, pharmacies and essential goods (including DIY which would have been good if our staff were prepared to work) has now been closed, as has everything else. The stock market has experienced another week of freefall...

Bake Off - we are not getting out of this any skinnier! Can it only be 2 weeks since I last wrote the blog? In such a short space of time it seems like the entire world has changed. To date nearly 300 people have died in the UK and over 14,000 worldwide. Almost every country in the world has reported a case and in some countries, Italy and Spain in particular, the death toll has risen incredibly rapidly. We are at war with an invisible enemy and while we frantically wash our hands as our main form of defence, the global economy has dropped through the floor. Markets have been in free fall, companies are reeling from the impact of the pandemic and whole populations are in lockdown. What seemed a bit silly initially now feels very real. For the UK we are in unprecedented times. We know this as Boris Johnson and two of his advisers stand in front of the country every evening at 5pm and tells us so. I can't remember the last time I heard him say "Get Brexit done". I mis...

As the world gets increasing panicked by the threat of Coronavirus, it is beginning to take over my life - at work at least. This week I had the dubious pleasure of being appointed the Group's Crisis Coordinator and so my already packed diary got shunted right as I stood up various working groups,  dusted off continuity plans and realised that we, along with most other organisations, aren't really equipped to deal with a mass shut down if it comes. On the one hand I can see the impact and so (from a professional perspective), we are taking it very seriously. We are trying to remind people to keep things in perspective, while also pointing out that washing your hands regularly is never a bad thing to do. On the other hand, I'm trying not to ask the obvious questions - like why is this so much more scary that normal flu (which kills 100s of thousands of people annually worldwide, Measles, which we have a vaccine for and people still choose not to use it, or obesity, which w...