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- So as many of, you know,
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I've been spending time going out into London
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and trying to speak with the small businesses that
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keep this city alive.
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It's 98% of the economy,
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and it's the taxi drivers,
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the cafes,
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the wine bars,
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the tailors,
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the personal trainers,
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you know, that's the lifeblood of London,
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it's the culture and it's our entire economy.
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And I've been trying to find out
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how we can get the city back to work,
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and having real conversations.
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And unfortunately I've found out things
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that aren't very impressive.
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The fact that cafes struggle to get approval
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for outdoor space so they can barely stay in business
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and keep one more employee
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in their job,
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to make sure that they have the livelihood to move on,
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to make sure that they can come to work and have a purpose
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and have a future.
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And, it just pains me now to hear these latest
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lockdown curfews that the government announced.
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Again, I'm really struggling
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and I'm gonna be diving into the numbers
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to see if then I can understand it, but
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you know, to shut off a venue at 10:00 p.m.
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and not give people that hour or two when some of these,
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these establishments are really gonna be
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making the money that keeps them alive.
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Again, I just,
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I don't see a science-based approach.
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I see a disproportionate response to that what's happening.
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And we've all seen it, you've seen it too.
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There's a policy
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and then the next week there's another policy,
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and the next week there's another policy.
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They make no rhyme or reason,
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and they seem to be made to be, to cover people's asses.
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That's what it really does.
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It seems to be making these policies in order to extend
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pandemic laws that were pushed through parliament here,
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or it does it in order to
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make the decisions that were made over the past
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four or five, six months somehow justified,
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or look as if they were necessary
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because we're hitting this quote unquote second wave.
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And so, it pains me because I've sat down
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with people that are trying to run businesses
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and I've seen the look in their eyes.
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Was it a place called caffeine with a K
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in Fitzrovia here in London,
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speaking with Peter Dore-Smith and,
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I mean, he wrote his business plan 11 years ago and he said,
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"Brian, I'm not gonna let this die."
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He's like, "I got people I employ here.
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This is their livelihood."
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He's like, "We love being of service."
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He's like, "Otherwise we're gonna go crazy."
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You know, I've sat down with people like Simon Woodruff
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who created YO! Sushi.
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I've sat down with people like James Dawson,
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founder of Humble Grape.
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They're struggling just to get the council
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to allow them to do what it takes to stay in business.
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No one is actually thinking about the economy
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and the longterm ramifications on our physical health
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and our mental health.
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And this is something we've been talking about
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on London Real for months and months and months.
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As GDP drops,
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you know, death rates go down.
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This is real.
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And yet it's something that's delayed,
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and so we don't always see it happening.
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And, I just think we all need to be really aware
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of what's actually happening out there,
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and just be more cognizant
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of some of the real damage we're doing
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to the economy in the city.
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It pains me to see it,
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and we've gotta get London back to work.
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We've gotta get people in these offices.
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I see all these offices here and there's nobody in them.
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There's 13% capacity in all of these buildings here.
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What's going on?
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It doesn't make sense.
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We're not speaking to these businesses.
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We're not getting people back in the city.
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We're not incentivizing them.
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There's no leadership from the front.
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All I see is reactions.
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I see a campaign of fear.
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We've overdone the campaign of fear.
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And it's time to find solutions
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on how we can get back to work.
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Again, I just don't see a consistent science-based approach
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and it frustrates me to it to a massive extent.
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This is my city.
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This is a city I love.
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This is a city I do business in,
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and this is a city I've called home.
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This is a city I'm gonna be buried in.
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And I'm tired of watching our leadership,
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send it down the drain.
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So again, I'd love to hear your comments below.
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If you've got ideas or suggestions
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or something that's working out in other cities,
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let us know.
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But you know, they're talking about
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the second wave of lockdowns.
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It's six more months of drastic measures
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that's just gonna run the economy
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of London and the UK into the ground.
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And again, have longterm ramifications for our physical,
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mental health and everything else.
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And it's time that we have these serious conversations.
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So again, we'd love to see your comments below.
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I'm still optimistic.
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Let's keep the faith.
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I'll be out how to be more conversations
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with people this week in culture
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and talking about business and health
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and everything else we can do.
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And I appreciate your support
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and I appreciate you listening.
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Thank you.