Covid-19 & business

Covid-19 & communities

Over lockdown, we’ve seen informal community support groups spring into action; thousands of people coming together to offer their help to deliver food, collect medical prescriptions and provide shopping assistance to some of the most vulnerable people across the UK. Universities, town halls and places of worship have become sites of support, as well as sporadic online mutual aid groups.

In this episode, we explore the changing role of communities in our lives and economies, and find out how their structures and the way they function affects the communities they serve. What does this mean for civic responsibility. Should communities be burdened with what some might say are the responsibilities of government, or is this community spirit a good thing?

In conversation with our host Clare Birkett is Karen Cheney, Head of Service for Birmingham Council's Neighbourhood Development and Support Unit, Simon Kaye, Senior Policy Researcher at the New Local Government Network, and Jasmine Lowe, a London resident who has been involved in community efforts during this crisis through the Muslim Welfare House. 

Covid-19 & communities

Over lockdown, we’ve seen informal community support groups spring into action; thousands of people coming together to offer their help to deliver food, collect medical prescriptions and provide shopping assistance to some of the most vulnerable people across the UK. Universities, town halls and places of worship have become sites of support, as well as sporadic online mutual aid groups.

In this episode, we explore the changing role of communities in our lives and economies, and find out how their structures and the way they function affects the communities they serve. What does this mean for civic responsibility. Should communities be burdened with what some might say are the responsibilities of government, or is this community spirit a good thing?

In conversation with our host Clare Birkett is Karen Cheney, Head of Service for Birmingham Council's Neighbourhood Development and Support Unit, Simon Kaye, Senior Policy Researcher at the New Local Government Network, and Jasmine Lowe, a London resident who has been involved in community efforts during this crisis through the Muslim Welfare House. 

Covid-19 & business

We’re approaching our 12th week of lockdown and we still don’t know if and when we can expect things to get back to ‘business as usual’. And talking of business, many businesses have seen a big hit to their profits during this period. Some have accessed government support through the furlough scheme, but perhaps less talked about so far is the Covid Corporate Financing Facility, a Bank of England fund that provides companies with money to help them stay in business. 

Tottenham Hotspur, Westfield shopping centre in London, and the German chemical firm Bayer have all received bailouts from the fund, and according to research from Positive Money, as of June 3 firms are borrowing £16.186bn from the fund, with the central bank giving the go-ahead for a total of £67.7bn so far. 

We’re here today to get a clearer picture of what covid-19 has meant for businesses, including finding out more about these bailouts, what the impacts of them will be, and in whose interests they are. Joining our host Clare Birkett is Fran Boait, Executive Director of Positive Money, a non-profit think tank that campaigns for systemic change of the money and banking system to support a fair, sustainable, and democratic economy. In conversation with Fran is Sam Dumitriu, Research Director at the Entrepreneurs Network.

Covid-19 & business

We’re approaching our 12th week of lockdown and we still don’t know if and when we can expect things to get back to ‘business as usual’. And talking of business, many businesses have seen a big hit to their profits during this period. Some have accessed government support through the furlough scheme, but perhaps less talked about so far is the Covid Corporate Financing Facility, a Bank of England fund that provides companies with money to help them stay in business. 

Tottenham Hotspur, Westfield shopping centre in London, and the German chemical firm Bayer have all received bailouts from the fund, and according to research from Positive Money, as of June 3 firms are borrowing £16.186bn from the fund, with the central bank giving the go-ahead for a total of £67.7bn so far. 

We’re here today to get a clearer picture of what covid-19 has meant for businesses, including finding out more about these bailouts, what the impacts of them will be, and in whose interests they are. Joining our host Clare Birkett is Fran Boait, Executive Director of Positive Money, a non-profit think tank that campaigns for systemic change of the money and banking system to support a fair, sustainable, and democratic economy. In conversation with Fran is Sam Dumitriu, Research Director at the Entrepreneurs Network.

Covid-19 and the environment

In a matter of months, the world has been transformed. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives, fallen ill or have lost someone that has succumbed to Covid-19. Places of industry, commerce & trade have become deserted. The UK’s pubs, shops & even public toilets have been closed & the aviation industry has been grounded globally, and many countries have even banned the consumption of wild animals. These are things that would have seemed unthinkable before the pandemic. 

Civilisation’s sudden halt has had a considerable impact on our environment. Fish are now visible from the surface of the canals in Venice, big polluters have been dealt big blows to their profits and global CO2 emissions have dropped from 4-7%.

Many, and not only environmentalists, are seeing these environmental benefits of the crisis as some kind of silver lining, but do these silver linings come at a price? Is all that glitters gold? We’re here today to explore this further, with our guests Amanda Janoo, Lola Fayokun.