What do you think the post-virus world will be like?

[BestestBrownies]

I think the divide between rich and poor will widen considerably, and the repercussions will be major civil unrest unless serious measures are taken to mitigate it (universal basic income brought in, minimum wage increased to appropriate living wage, decent social housing for key workers etc).

The inevitable global recession will see a generation of completely disillusioned youth with large university debts and poor employment prospects. Their anger will fuel necessary change.

Mental health care will require major investment to prevent endemic depression and suicide.

This will be an unpopular view, but I also hope multiple airlines go bust and air travel becomes largely unaffordable/unnecessary as people who previously would fly to Europe for the day for meetings hold them online instead. I hope momentum from the Greta Thunberg movement combined with the visible improvements lockdowns have made to the planet puts massive pressure on governments to make real and quantifiable changes to protect and heal the earth from the damage the human race has done.

I’m guessing large gatherings will be outlawed.

countries will rethink trade with china.
who will go bankrupt and need more donations.
borders will take on renewed importance.
long term i think decreased density in terms of housing but that is very very long term.
increased every day costs will affect everyone but of course the poor will feel it more.

@PomBearsyummy at least we don't have to hear from her every 2 seconds at the moment

The poor will get poorer, the rich richer.
Air travel etc will be for the rich only, who will still be able to afford to go to Europe for the day if they want but will be out of the reach of the working classes.
Taxes will rise and there will be no money to invest.
Suicide and crime will rise.
Businesses will realise wfh is cheaper so n many more empty offices and smaller supporter business will go bust.
Small businesses will go bust and chains will fill the gaps.
Unemployment will be high so wages will stay low

I think it will be interesting

I’m hoping less air and road travel, more working from home and online meetings. Better air quality, less asthma and allergies.

Better pay for NHS staff, nurses bursaries reinstated, free tuition fees for all medical and social care courses. Training more UK medical staff rather than stealing them from poorer countries.

Less global trade more support for home grown business. An understanding that communist China are propaganda specialists and are not to be trusted (rethinking awarding 5G contract).

More people growing their own fruit and veg supporting local butchers and smaller food retailers. Less reliance on supermarkets, not returning to grocery home deliveries.

Turning against rich celebrity types, especially those who don’t pay tax or contribute to society.

Hoping the whole celebrity culture implodes, especially rich ‘celebrity’ influencer types who don’t have any skills or abilities. Why would anyone be influenced by them on anything?

Young people will be saddled with huge debt and poor prospects.

I think the gap between rich and poor will be narrowed. It will be the self employed and business owners who suffer the most in a deep recession. Property owners, especially commercial, will be left without an income (see below). Public sector workers will be secure.

I think city centres will become ghost towns, with empty office buildings, empty shops, and no one with any disposable income to spend in any shops that remain.

People will work from home or demand to work from home. When people are ill they will take time off, a stark change from the culture that had developed where you were scared to take time off when you were ill for fear of a negative impact.

Restaurants and bars will be changed beyond recognition. If bars and clubs survive at all.

Festivals and gigs will also be banned for a long time although of course football will be allowed to restart, but probably without live audiences.

Similarly non essential travel will be a no no this year - even if officially allowed I think people will be scared to travel or it will be frowned upon if you do.

Supermarkets, food producers and DIY businesses are quids in.

It’s going to be different and shit and a lot of people are going to be extremely depressed as they watch everything they worked hard for become worthless overnight.

A lot more deaths will occur indirectly as a result.

"I think it will be interesting"

Did your internet timebank expire? or is that it?

I think depression and mental health issues such as PTSD will rise considerably. The government won’t be able to provide support for those people (look at track record). Children of this age will find it hard to settle back into education. You’ll be lucky if you have a secure job. You’ll be lucky if you get seen by a doctor at your surgery.

I think this will be the “Great Depression” of the 21st century. And as Bojo told us, we’ll all lose loved ones.

It will be grim. High taxes, high inflation, high unemployment, lots of companies going bust, huge NHS waiting lists, lots of restrictions still in place. Lots of health anxiety, many people grieving, some people with PTSD. People with permanent lung damage. Several more lockdowns to come.

The inevitable global recession will see a generation of completely disillusioned youth with large university debts and poor employment prospects. Their anger will fuel necessary change.

This is wishful thinking at best. 2008 shafted a generation who are still villified as the source of the world's ills and nothing at all changed because they couldn't afford to be angry.

All it will do is add another generation of people who have no security and no meaningful way to change anything while the needs of the older generations continue to be prioritised.

Agree with a lot of ideas above.

Hopefully people being kinder

Hopefully no one giving a shit about reality stars and celebrities

Some high street chain I can't imagine will survive. Good example wh Smith which I've always thought must prop its high streetstores with the revenue from airport and railway station outlets.

Less air travel. It should be expensive and highly regarded. It cannot be right one can jump on a place for a meeting in another country.we have made cheap flight soemthibg we take for granted.

Hopefully bursery for all people going into health.

Carers being recognised as a profession with the respect and pay and qualifications and recognition they deserve.

Increase to living wage.

More working form home. Companies are going to struggle to get people beck into the office if we have all proven we can work from home. It's absurd to travel miles needlessly to just sit at a grubby desk next to some you hate just to be 'at work'.

Or is that it
Yes but if you want me to elaborate I will say my feeling is it's too early to make predictions but I'm very interested to see how things pan out.

My husband works for a bank in Sydney and he regularly flies between cities for a meeting for a couple of hours. At the start of Feb all travel was banned by his firm and he has managed perfectly well doing all these meetings online. It’s win win for him and the bank. No more 3am starts to get to Melbourne, saves the bank thousands of dollars and the only one that loses out is Virgin Australia.
He reckons that his bank, which owns a huge office in the centre of Sydney, will be able to sub let a couple of floors as more people work from home more regularly (and he already did one day a week).

The losers will be the airlines as if what he does is replicated over the thousands of people who regularly fly for meetings, the airlines won’t survive. Which then means that all flights are more expensive like it was here in the 2000s when we only had Qantas holding a monopoly.

it will be interesting to see what the difference in annual deaths is between 2019 (pre pandemic) and 2020. many of those that will succumb may have succumbed anyway.
i don't thing there will be a huge disparity. less motor vehicle accidents and other accidents will bridge the gap.

as for the recent graduates it all depends what type of program you choose, and for those who have family support taking on a small trade while the economy picks up will always be an option.
i don't remember 1980 2008 really leading to any major societal changes.

Yes, I read in the Times that at least 74,000 fewer people will have died because of better air quality - and presumably it’s way more than that worldwide.
The bald deaths figures aren’t showing the full picture. In Australia I think at least 90% have been people well into their 70s and beyond and for people in their 80s and 90s, there was a good chance statistically that they might have died anyway.

But you’re right, the death figure comparisons year on year are the interesting figures to look at, especially across age brackets.

I also think living on credit will become a thing of the past as lenders refuse to lend and incomes become less secure. House prices will suffer and estate agents will be forced to close branches and lay off staff.

All restaurants will have to offer home delivery to survive.

Large sporting events/music gigs etc will be pay-per-view with no live audience and/or big names will be forced to perform for TV to promote themselves

Sadly I think inequality, with company owners taking millions while employees live in poverty and tax avoidance will continue, the young and poor will continue to pay the price, just as they did after the final crisis in 2008.

I just don't understand why people continue to vote for politicians approve of this level of inequality.

I think it’ll make a lot of people fearful, and yes - the poor will be affected. People will go back to taking the NHS for granted. Not great really.

I think it’ll pretty much go back to normal.

Professor Poodles first 4 paragraphs I hope.

I'd love it if we could keep a lot of the reduction in travel, for the benefit of reduced carbon emissions.

And I hope cruise ships can become a thing of the past. They are just environmental disaster boats.

Will we become more left wing as a society and continue caring about each other or will the homeless be turfed out of hotels straight back onto the streets?

Will we continue to value the care workers, delivery drivers and shopworkers who are keeping society going?

Will we stop caring about eyebrows and celebs and keep focusing on what is important?

Will the outrage at Richard Branson and the Wetherspoons guy persist or will we go back to normal?

Will we realise UC is a pittance and keep it at the increased rates?

Will we become harsher as a society and make more cuts to services to save the economy?

Sadly I think it will be the latter that is the case.