Ever since the swine-fancier-in-chief started on the Brexit linedance the UK has been divided. People were told their opinion mattered, and allowed to express it through a referendum. The voxpops mattered. 6-pints Ken in the pub mattered. Brexit was such a grey area, with so many fake statistics and hollow arguments, that just about any opinion could be aired without hindrance. Families were divided.
Ours was. Even now certain arms of our family won’t speak to each other. The use of the phrase “racist bigots” might have something to do with it.
In such a void battle lines were drawn, and programs like Question Time became copy-paste wars of words. Campaigners, politicians and ‘celebrities’ with nought but strong opinions rose to the top, froth on a slurry pit.
But in the last few weeks, something has changed. Fighting this Coronavirus, defeating COVID-19, requires us to work together. It doesn’t discriminate based on how you voted in 2016 (well…). Experts are called upon. Opinions are surplus to fact. United action across the world is required. There is suddenly a bigger enemy, a bigger battle. A reason to forget the artificial divisions and remember the reasons that bind us. We are all human.
People are reaching out to each other for support. Across borders, generations, timezones, opinions. Picking up shopping, refilling prescriptions, taking the dog for a walk (1, 2, 3). The sense of community that was lost is returning. Kindness, care and altruism will get us through this (4, 5, 6).
Keep handwashing, and take care!
The Shrink
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Other News:
Positive news on COVID-19:
- Data from China, including a large (n=340) study show that favipiravir is effective against COVID-19, but only in preventing progression from moderate to severe disease (7)
- Here’s the original paper (8)
- The WHO is running a multinational trial to find effective medications (9) – The MRC and NIHR are running similar in the UK, beginning enrolment imminently
- Remdesivir, a re-purposed Ebola antiviral, is one of the potential therapies (10)
- Seeking Alpha investment-focussed look at Gilead Sciences, the manufacturers of Remdesivir (11)
- And finally, the tiny (n=36) pre-peer review paper that Trump is getting all buoyant over (12)
- Irish developed kit can test for COVID19 in 15 minutes (13) – This prompted all those ‘close Irish pubs for a day…’ comments.
You may have missed:
A couple of weeks back the Competition and Markets Authority reported there was evidence of mis-selling and unfair contracts on the sale of new homes by developers (14). This was significantly stronger wording than anticipated, and has been considered a huge victory for leaseholders (15, 16, 17). With that stronger wording, the legal sharks left hungry after PPI dried up have smelt blood, and are already circling for mis-selling class action claims (18, 19).
Life goes on:
- Hard to miss the fastest ever bear market – The Independent (20)
- Is your bank one of those passing on the BoE rate cut? – This is Money (21)
- The Crash has demonstrated that many companies were upping dividends and buying back stock, without working cash reserves – CNBC (22) – Swimming naked
Comment/ Opinion:
- Of Dollars and Data with similar sentiments to my own (23)
- Weenie shares what a lot of us have been thinking; it’s all well and good hoping for a crash for cheap shares, but the experience is a bit shit (24)
- Banker on Fire reminds us things are scary, but hold on, don’t sell (25)
- Monevator has a plethora of links (26)
- FirevLondon has a tiny entry, but big changes on his trading diary (27)
- South Wales FI takes a run at the car cost problem (28)
- The Obvious Investor provides another market overview (29)
- TFS picks a perfect time to quit his job (30) – Err, congrats… ish?
- JL Collins is on the Mad FIentist blog with calming tones (31)
- TEA, with wise words on why we’ll win this battle (32)
- The Average Money Man – What is a (market) circuit breaker? (33)
- Finumus on what we do and don’t know, and whether it even matters (34)
- I normally hate lists, but in these times Tuppenny’s huge list of cheap quick recipes is probably useful (35)
- Med FI on WFH, or work as home for those of us in the NHS (36)
- The Foxy Monkey also tries to give an overview of changing markets (37)
- The Ways celebrate one year blogging (38) – Congratulations, and keep at the slog!
- And Indeedably has a thought experiment about the post-isolation future (39)
References
- https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/03/14/city-residents-set-up-aid-group-for-people-struggling-with-coronavirus-measures/
- https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/amazing-things-people-greater-manchester-17947422
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/16/community-aid-groups-set-up-across-uk-amid-coronavirus-crisis
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51991566
- https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/29371/11-simple-ways-to-care-for-each-other-during-the-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic/
- https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/21/like-an-emotional-mexican-wave-how-coronavirus-kindness-makes-the-world-seem-smaller
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/japanese-flu-drug-clearly-effective-in-treating-coronavirus-says-china
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095809920300631?via%3Dihub
- https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/who-to-launch-multinational-trial-to-jumpstart-search-for-coronavirus-drugs/
- https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/16/remdesivir-surges-ahead-against-coronavirus/
- https://seekingalpha.com/article/4332561-gilead-sciences-even-not-counting-covidminus-19-company-significant-potential
- https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Hydroxychloroquine_final_DOI_IJAA.pdf
- https://www.independent.ie/world-news/coronavirus/irish-developed-kit-confirms-infection-in-15-minutes-39046582.html
- https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2020-03-02/thousands-leaseholders-have-been-mis-sold-homes-unfairly-charged-developers
- https://thenegotiator.co.uk/leasehold-knowledge-partnership-victory/
- https://www.lovemoney.com/news/93583/cma-leasehold-buyers-being-taken-advantage-of-by-dodgy-developers
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51671363
- https://www.claimexperts.co.uk/mis-sold-leasehold-property-claims/
- https://www.smoothcl.co.uk/site/services/mis-sold-leasehold-claims/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/stock-market-dow-jones-index-trump-coronavirus-wall-street-1929-crash-a9412221.html
- https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-8134443/Has-mortgage-rate-fallen-bank-rate-cut.html
- https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/crash-shows-major-corporations-broke-no-1-personal-finance-rule.html
- https://ofdollarsanddata.com/lessons-from-coronavirus/
- http://quietlysaving.co.uk/2020/03/14/our-hopes-and-expectations/
- http://bankeronfire.com/have-no-fear-surviving-and-thriving-in-a-recession
- https://monevator.com/weekend-reading-lockdown-links-for-days/
- https://firevlondon.com/2020/03/20/manic-month-still-in-progress/
- https://southwalesfi.co.uk/2020/03/20/why-your-car-is-making-you-retire-5-years-later-or-longer/
- https://obviousinvestor.com/obvious-investor-covid-19-investments-update/
- http://thefirestarter.co.uk/and-they-say-timing-is-everything/
- https://www.madfientist.com/coronavirus-market-crash/
- https://theescapeartist.me/2020/03/20/victory-is-inevitable-part-2/
- https://averagemoneymanagement.wordpress.com/2020/03/19/what-is-a-circuit-breaker/
- https://www.finumus.com/blog/burn-down-the-disco
- https://tuppennysfireplace.com/fast-easy-recipes-with-few-ingredients-5-ingredients-or-less/
- https://medfiblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/15/baked-beans-and-shotgun-cartridges/
- https://www.foxymonkey.com/coronavirus-special-investing/
- https://awaytoless.com/a-way-to-less-one-year-blogging/
- https://indeedably.com/isolation/
The FIRE Shrink 