Laptop

By Jimmy McLoughlin, former business adviser to the Prime Minister

This content is taken from Jimmy's newsletter, 'Coronavirus & Government Updates'. Subscribe here.

This email is for UK entrepreneurs and small businesses trying to navigate support that the government and other agencies are offering.

I used to advise the Prime Minister on business, so I know how hard it can be for government to reach out and how tough business can find it to navigate the labyrinth that is gov.uk. I won't have all the answers, but I hope I can point you in the right direction.

Top lines

Rishi Sunak has been in the Commons saying there is a package for self-employed people coming soon, The Sun is speculating it won't be until tomorrow though.
Martin Lewis of Moneysavingexpert has done a short video outlining advice for self-employed people as it stands. You can watch it here:

— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) March 24, 2020

The Department for Business and the Department for Local Communities has announced that commercial tenants who cannot pay their rent because of COVID-19 will be protected from eviction. This is available here.

James Hurley of the Times has written this excellent thread on the most up-to-date advice on business loans, available here.

Interesting pieces

I forgot to post this piece from James Timpson in the Sunday Times, it talks about the hardest week of his professional life. I count James as a friend, for full disclosure. But Timpsons is a remarkably well-run company, and is one of the best when it comes to culture and values. They have closed their stores but are continuing to pay all employees. If you have access to The Times, it is worth reading in full. It is available here.

WhiteHat is one of the most exciting companies in the UK right now helping to place people into apprenticeships across the country, they have written an excellent blog on how they have moved all their training online. It is quite inspiring and shows how the economy is going to change in lots of ways in quite a positive way, it is available here.

Matt Clifford of Entrepreneur First has written this piece on Sifted some of the predatory behaviour of some Venture Capitalists. That is available here.

Simon Radford has written an excellent piece on Medium about ‘Post-Apocalyptic Settlement’ and what will the new normal look like? It is available here.

The Open University has opened its courses whilst people are working at home, you can see here. Via Bejay Mulenga.

It has been going around that Shakespeare wrote King Lear when in isolation. We can’t be 100% sure. But this Guardian article does an excellent job going over the possibilities, and it is certainly likely he did some of his work in isolation. It is available here.

Will people look back in centuries time at these emails and see them similar to Shakespeare? I have clearly been sat at home too long.

Finally...I need your help

I have been overwhelmed by the messages that I have received in response to this email. I set it up because I wanted to try and help businesses navigate this difficult time and understand what’s going on with Government and where they can get support.
In addition, I was supposed to start a full time job this week, and that will now not be happening.
My wife is an NHS Doctor and is going to be returning to work next week, returning early from maternity leave.
That means I am going to become Daddy Day Care from next Monday, which is going to make it quite difficult for me to write this email in its current form every day.
If they are any people who have a spare couple of hours every day on their hands and understand a bit about the machinery of Government, please do get them to reach out.
In addition, anyone who is a particular whizz at social media, it would be good to talk too.
As ever, please consider forwarding it to friends.

This content is taken from Jimmy's newsletter, 'Coronavirus & Government Updates'. Subscribe here.