I've been spending time going out into London

and trying to speak with the small businesses that

keep this city alive.

It's 98% of the economy,

and it's the taxi drivers,

the cafes,

the wine bars,

the tailors,

the personal trainers,

you know, that's the lifeblood of London,

it's the culture and it's our entire economy.

And I've been trying to find out

how we can get the city back to work,

and having real conversations.

And unfortunately I've found out things

that aren't very impressive.

The fact that cafes struggle to get approval

for outdoor space so they can barely stay in business

and keep one more employee

in their job,

to make sure that they have the livelihood to move on,

to make sure that they can come to work and have a purpose

and have a future.

And, it just pains me now to hear these latest

lockdown curfews that the government announced.

Again, I'm really struggling

and I'm gonna be diving into the numbers

to see if then I can understand it, but

you know, to shut off a venue at 10:00 p.m.

and not give people that hour or two when some of these,

these establishments are really gonna be

making the money that keeps them alive.

Again, I just,

I don't see a science-based approach.

I see a disproportionate response to that what's happening.

And we've all seen it, you've seen it too.

There's a policy

and then the next week there's another policy,

and the next week there's another policy.

They make no rhyme or reason,

and they seem to be made to be, to cover people's asses.

That's what it really does.

It seems to be making these policies in order to extend

pandemic laws that were pushed through parliament here,

or it does it in order to

make the decisions that were made over the past

four or five, six months somehow justified,

or look as if they were necessary

because we're hitting this quote unquote second wave.

And so, it pains me because I've sat down

with people that are trying to run businesses

and I've seen the look in their eyes.

Was it a place called caffeine with a K

in Fitzrovia here in London,

speaking with Peter Dore-Smith and,

I mean, he wrote his business plan 11 years ago and he said,

"Brian, I'm not gonna let this die."

He's like, "I got people I employ here.

This is their livelihood."

He's like, "We love being of service."

He's like, "Otherwise we're gonna go crazy."

You know, I've sat down with people like Simon Woodruff

who created YO! Sushi.

I've sat down with people like James Dawson,

founder of Humble Grape.

They're struggling just to get the council

to allow them to do what it takes to stay in business.

No one is actually thinking about the economy

and the longterm ramifications on our physical health

and our mental health.

And this is something we've been talking about

on London Real for months and months and months.

As GDP drops,

you know, death rates go down.

This is real.

And yet it's something that's delayed,

and so we don't always see it happening.

And, I just think we all need to be really aware

of what's actually happening out there,

and just be more cognizant

of some of the real damage we're doing

to the economy in the city.

It pains me to see it,

and we've gotta get London back to work.

We've gotta get people in these offices.

I see all these offices here and there's nobody in them.

There's 13% capacity in all of these buildings here.

What's going on?

It doesn't make sense.

We're not speaking to these businesses.

We're not getting people back in the city.

We're not incentivizing them.

There's no leadership from the front.

All I see is reactions.

I see a campaign of fear.

We've overdone the campaign of fear.

And it's time to find solutions

on how we can get back to work.

Again, I just don't see a consistent science-based approach

and it frustrates me to it to a massive extent.

This is my city.

This is a city I love.

This is a city I do business in,

and this is a city I've called home.

This is a city I'm gonna be buried in.

And I'm tired of watching our leadership,

send it down the drain.

So again, I'd love to hear your comments below.

If you've got ideas or suggestions

or something that's working out in other cities,

let us know.

But you know, they're talking about

the second wave of lockdowns.

It's six more months of drastic measures

that's just gonna run the economy

of London and the UK into the ground.

And again, have longterm ramifications for our physical,

mental health and everything else.

And it's time that we have these serious conversations.

So again, we'd love to see your comments below.

I'm still optimistic.

Let's keep the faith.

I'll be out how to be more conversations

with people this week in culture

and talking about business and health

and everything else we can do.

And I appreciate your support

and I appreciate you listening.

Thank you.