Perhaps inadvertently, Rishi Sunak and Gillian Keegan have, in their comments about 're-skilling', drifted into what I think is *very* interesting territory.

A thread on the new normal, resistance to change, and why all this is particularly difficult for Conservatives. 1/10

The comments were focused on 'the arts', but they have much wider resonance.

In order to get through the pandemic (and on a wider scale, eg to have an impact on climate change) most people accept that there has to be change, and that we have to find a 'new normal'. 2/

But while most people accept that, they find it difficult to accept that anything about the way in which *their sector* operates needs to change. They are crucial, the life-blood of the community. They are not expendable. 3/

These arguments have been deployed (with varying success and varying media interest) by, to name a few, pubs and bars, the aviation industry, city-centre Prets-a-Manger, schools, universities, 'the arts' and sports clubs. 4/

The stock Conservative response to these questions is to eschew intervention, and to a rely on market forces. The instinct is not to intervene to steer the economy, but to rely on people's enterprise to find solutions. 5/

True, they are prepared to invest heavily in some sectors (eg off-shore wind; and, apparently, customs officials), and show increasing willingness to use public funds to support particular sectors.

But... the coronavirus has put them in a very difficult position. 6/

The reason many of sectors identified above are struggling is *not* because they are lacking in ingenuity, and *not* because they are backward looking or failing; but because Govt rules have made it impossible for them to function profitably. 7/

They are facing an acute, but temporary, crisis (though, and here it gets even more interesting, it may be difficult to know when the temporary starts to become permanent; or how particular sectors might fare in the post-COVID world). 8/

They *either* want help to get through the temporary difficulty; *or* they want the Govt rules to change, to allow them to operate profitably.

It is no surprise that many on the Conservative side hear and want to respond to the second call rather than the first. 9/

The scene is set for a big political debate about the extent to which the Govt can, or should, seek to steer (or manage) the economy.

And the answers we get might be unusual... because Govt public health rules are preventing the market from doing its usual job. Ends. 10/10