The time is ripe for a coronavirus coalition government | William Keegan

After the war, a new, more just social consensus emerged. The same must happen now

'When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." So it seems with the economy. The world economy was slowing down before the onset of the virus, with many analysts forecasting a recession. The British economy was being held back not only by the repercussions of that, but also by the impact on business confidence in general and investment in particular of the mere prospect of Brexit.

Then came the classic Yes Minister compromise: we officially left the European Union on 31 January, but we had a stay of execution - remaining in it for another year, but forfeiting, in yet another act of needless self harm, the right to have any say in its governance.

This latest development is not so much an economic crisis as the result of a deliberate, if reluctant, act of government

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