For those unfamiliar with the term Helicopter money, see Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_moneyand yes I do know that the poll tax was replaced with the community charge, but poll tax has more of a ring to it and it is still in common even if incorrect usage and the payments for the charge begin at the end of this month, after the usual 3 month holiday. I was told that the payment was structured this way as March is the month when a lot of the business that have seen little turnover since Christmas, start to see more punters and have more money for the local councils.
My own view is that everyone in the UK is getting too complacent about how the UK populous will react to the lock down. Hopefully I am wrong and everything will run like clockwork and there will be a smooth and steady return to normality. Various folk who are paid the minimum wage have told me that they have lost all their income and are concerned about what benefits and support they will get and when it will arrive. One guy was saying he was told he will not get anything till June and was worried about his rent and other overheads, but not worried enough as of yet to give up his cigarettes.
I have no idea. I see all these articles in the media and the ones posted here all suggesting that everything is fine. The many new people who pass by at over 2 m distance, walking dogs etc all seem happy and untroubled. Various gangs of youths have found mischief to amuse themselves with, last week torching a huge pile of pallets that were being collected for the local bonfire and according to my pony's groom throwing stones at her when she walked her dog in the park. The number of cars on the road has greatly reduced, there are fewer vapour trails in the sky and I still seem to be able to get most things that I want.
The BMA are saying there are shortages:
https://twitter.com/TheBMA/status/12445 ... 76736?s=20but the BMA are a trade union (yes I know they hate that title and prefer trade association) and are regular complainers about their members conditions etc.
The ventilator shortage seems to have become yesterdays news.
The collected measurement data, statistics and disease time lines are still so full of uncertainties as to make me not trust any of them. Churchill in his History of the Second War, describes how both the RAF and the Luftwaffe gave out misleading combat statistics during the Battle of Britain and so I expect the numbers coming out of governments to be suspect and to be as optimistic as possible.
Markets remain volatile, I short when things go down, cover when they stop and sometimes go long. Whether we have seen the bottom or whether we have just had a good bear market rally I do not know, nor does anyone else.
I also do not know if there have been so many changes to behaviour that we will smoothly return to the pre-c19 conditions at the end of this whenever that is or whether companies will have found that operating more over the net increases margins by reducing the number of staff needed, emulating the Amazon business model etc.
I expect that distance learning will not go away and that many of the Private Schools Higher Education colleges/Universities etc will find that a lot of their business does not return.
However, the consensus is that all will be well and that we will soon be back to normal and I find that the most disturbing of all things associated with this pandemic.
Regards,