Editor's comment for February 2021

I ended the year with a rather unwelcome dose of COVID-19. Despite masking up just about every time I left the house, smothering my mitts in copious amounts of hand sanitiser probably excessively, and growling at anyone who came within my two metre safety zone, I still managed to cop it.

So Christmas morning took on a somewhat different format. I rolled up at a local COVID test centre at 9am along with 30+ other people and got a positive result via text later that evening as I tucked into my third helping of Christmas cake. That was my destiny sealed for 10 days. Time at least to read the Viz Annual Santa left me.

It’s never a good idea to dwell on the past too much but the pandemic has changed the world so much that it’s a pretty safe bet that some of it will stick. Cash for example has been positively discouraged during the past year due to the fact that it’s a rather efficient way of spreading viruses.

So are we heading towards a cashless society? Apparently Sweden is by March 2023, when cash will no longer be accepted as a means of payment. Actually, thinking about it, I’ve been practically cashless for the best part of a year. The £20 that I’ve had in my wallet since March 2020 is still there.

Personally I have no problem with it but many would. Apparently, according to a recent study, over eight million adults in the UK – 17% of the population – rely on cash to make payments every day. There’s constant pressure pushing everyone towards doing stuff online, but some geographical areas still have abysmal internet connectivity and many elderly people just aren’t happy with the digital world and struggle with it.

Did you know that around 1.7 million people in the UK don’t have a bank account?

Moving on and looking forward, I think 2021 will see a partial return to normal but not entirely. The national vaccination programme is well underway – the Government’s target is 15 million by mid-February – and whilst that will instil some much needed confidence in society, it’s still going to be a while before people feel safe mingling in large crowds again. Some things may never go back to how they were. Some things may actually be better than they were.

In business, we’ve all had to adjust – but people are adaptable and none more so than the manufacturing fraternity. Unquestionably, COVID-19 has damaged our industry deeply, but wounds heal. 2021 will be undoubtedly challenging but I do believe it will be a year that starts to see positive transition and a return to some semblance of normality.