High streets, the beating hearts of our towns and cities, are being hammered by Covid-19 and require emergency treatment before more shops are boarded up.
All stores reopening in England from Wednesday need customers to thrive and they also deserve greater government support.
The pandemic has accelerated problems which were all too clear long before it struck.
Tens of thousands of retail jobs are on the line and Topshop’s plight is a warning of what may await other major chains.
Breathing fresh life into the high street is a major challenge that will still be here when the virus is gone but inspiration, commitment and resources could resurrect shopping centres.
Online giants profiting during the pandemic, including international firms who pay scandalously little UK tax, must be made to pay fair.
We must use or lose high streets, but let’s invest in them to give them a fighting chance.
Stay on guard
Mixed messages cost lives and this incompetent government is never clear.
Confusion reigns when Boris Johnson is straining to sound positive, desperately offering concessions to Tory virus rebels as his deputy, Dominic Raab, warns of a third wave.
The PM’s inconsistency is one of his most consistent weaknesses, failing to do what he believes and believe in what he’s doing.
Communities with low infection rates in Tier 3 blocks will understandably be resentful that areas with higher figures are in Tier 2.
The Government continues to commit grievous errors throughout this crisis but we all need to look out for ourselves and others.
To drop our guard and fall ill when vaccines are on their way could be a fatal mistake.
Worlds apart
Travelling from the Green Cross Code Man to Star Wars, actor Dave Prowse’s journey was out of this world.
He decided to play Darth Vader rather than cuddlier Chewbacca as he thought everyone would remember a villain. And he was right.
