In the latest in its series of podcasts supported by the investment bank Stifel and its European President Eithne O’Leary, Jericho Chambers Partner, Matthew Gwyther speaks to Eithne plus four observers of the UK scene to hear their feelings about the last year and what now lies ahead for Britain as it faces an uncertain future.  The interviewees were Antony Jenkins, Vicky Pryce, Claer Barrett and Professor John Van Reenan of the London School of Economics.

Claer Barrett is Consumer Editor at The Financial Times and author of a weekly Money Clinic podcast. She never thought she’d live to see the day when FT readers contact her for help with the UK benefits system. But that become an unpleasant reality in 2020. “The Great Crash of 2008 felt like the end of days to me,” she says. “But this is different and in some ways feels worse as covid is a social not a monetary phenomenon. People are dying.”