Alec Hogg: Boris Johnson to follow Swedish lead

Of countries which have choices in such matters, only Sweden has thus far decided to trust its citizens to apply "personal responsibility" in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown-free country's contrarian approach has been rewarded through limited economic disruption. And with 14 600 coronavirus deaths, its mortality rate of 1.3% of 1.1m confirmed cases (0.14% of its population) is comfortably below those nations where politicians applied their best ideas..After a single-minded approach of mass vaccination, Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson has decided to follow Sweden's example. Yesterday he told countrymen that despite expert warnings of escalations in coronavirus infections, the UK will re-open Brexitland within a fortnight (see summary above from our partners at the FT). If successful, it will prove that vaccines offer a route back to normality. As does the merit of "personal responsibility" so distrusted by the political elite. Click here for the full story..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.* A couple of excellent investment stories in today's Wall Street Journal. Those who are bargain hunting in property stocks will take pause from the US experience where many companies are cancelling property leases as they'll need less than half their pre-covid space. In New York and San Francisco the space requirement is down to just 20% of 2019's, a powerful endorsement that the switch to remote work is permanent. Our partners also have a superb analysis of how long the next Bear Market in stocks is likely to last..* On the subject of high quality articles, I'm indebted to BizNews community member Niels Viljoen for his steer on the piece about a man he describes as "our most industrious South African". It's a highly readable article in science publication Nautilus written by the president of Pioneer Astronautics who explains how Elon Musk is changing everything about space exploration. Click here..*Our community was justifiably sceptical on the ANC government's 2021 Budget commitment to slice R265bn off the public sector wage bill over three years. Rather than be reduced, the cost of these long-furloughed worthies is actually set to increase again – courtesy of government's sweetened offer to trade unions tabled yesterday. It includes a 1.5% pay increase plus an R18bn bonus for lower paid workers. Details in this morning's Business Day..NB FOR YOUR WALL STREET JOURNAL ACCESS….As a Premium subscriber you are entitled to full membership of wsj.com (normal price $29 a month). Be sure to action your access through the Premium link on the BizNews website. Because of The Wall Street Journal's credential requirements, be sure to create a password which has at least 8 characters and includes at least one letter and one number – NB it MAY NOT contain any special characters (ie #, !, @ etc). To maintain access to WSJ.com, you MUST enter our partner's website via BizNews Premium at least once a month. A final PS, if you had previously signed up for WSJ you'll need to clear the cookies from your device. Our help desk can assist – support@biznews.com.

Alec Hogg: Boris Johnson to follow Swedish lead

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