Why disasters are less disastrous today

The worst of the storm is over, and for most it was quite exciting rather than life threatening. Obviously for the few people who died it was a tragedy, but these small tragedies happen all the time with road accidents in particular. And for those without power, it is very inconveniencing.

What has struck me is that nobody is writing about the cost to the country in terms of lost employment - so many people who couldn't get to work, etc. etc. This has been the usual refrain with such storms in the past. I think the reason is that so many people now have the technology to work at home, and the umbilical to the office is stretching more and more.

But of course not everybody can work from home. School teachers for instance have to go in, and one reason that there is less outcry this time is that so much of the country is on half term, which means there are no stories about closed schools, and the concomitant impact on parents' working arrangements.
But there are still a lot of people whose jobs require physical presence. It is interesting to think in how many cases that is essential. Carers, nurses and waiters are irreplaceable. Shop staff can of course be replaced in internet shopping, but you still need people in warehouses, and to make deliveries. And what about other tasks which we think are essentially face to face? You may need to visit your doctor to have your temperature taken or that lump on your leg examined, but could you then discuss the test results on Skype?

A lot of universities already use distance learning. Are we heading towards a society where only the carer, the nanny, the cleaner, the gardener and the road mender will actually have to work in the physical world? It might seem scary but it would reduce pressure on our transport system. Perhaps we won't need HS2 after all.

Was Monday good news day?

A week ago on Monday was 'blue Monday', the day of the year when we were all meant to feel most depressed. For the construction industry though it seemed as if this Monday was more like 'golden Monday'. It was extraordinary to wake up to news which seemed to be all about creating construction work.
First there was the confirmation of the proposed route for the northern part of HS2, the high-speed rail line, although there will evidently be a lot of arguing about the route before this translates into real work.
Then there was the unrolling of the much-discussed Green Deal to the public, which should generate work at the smaller end of the market for approved installers.
And if architects, rightly, think that HS2 is too infrastructure based (although there will be new stations) and the Green Deal too small and trade based, then they can take heart that the embargo has, finally, been lifted on publicising Olympic work. OK this is too little too late, and of little benefit to many. And yes, there is plenty of bad news around with practices still going out of business, product manufacturers becoming insolvent, and the prospects for construction work looking gloomy overall. But how nice to have at least a little oasis of cheer. With gift horses so rare these days, we shouldn't look this one in the mouth.