Andrew Dickens Afternoons

So here we are.  After what seems both an eternity and the blink of an eye we come to the time to decide the next step in the battle against Covid 19.The choice is simple and stark and yet so complicated and fuzzy. It is, as we are prone to say these days, unprecedented.Do we extend the Level 4 lockdown or do we ease the strict rules and move to Level 3? There is no right answer because the cases for both are powerful.  The consequences of both are also potentially calamitous.On one hand, the business people of this country are right to fear an extension of the lockdown.  Every day that goes by sees more life ebbing out of our economy. An extension will be the straw that breaks many enterprises backs. Meanwhile, the health cost of a failed economy should not be discounted. A recession is bad for you.  A depression is worse.  It means a lift in poverty. Poverty means bad food, bad houses, bad mental health. Poverty kills you.  It’s been estimated last week that the global Covid slowdown has put the global figh