COMPARISONS between the Prime Minister and Captain Kirk, art in lockdown and office working were the issues raised by columnists and contributors.
The Daily Mail
Sarah Vine said she adored Star Trek as a child.
“On the one hand, theoretical Mr Spock, sharp as a tack but somewhat slave to reason,” she said. “On the other, empirical Kirk, the slick, suave communicator, juggling facts with emotion, logic with intuition.”
She said watching the Prime Minister make his announcement on Monday took her back to the USS Enterprise.
“If ever there was a James T Kirk of a PM it’s Boris Johnson. Blond, charismatic, maverick, prone to amorous distractions. and if ever there were a Mr Spock, or pair of Spocks, it’s Whitty and Valance and their army of scientific advisers.”
She said we need to open the country back up ad Boris “needs to take back control from the boffins and Mr spocks of this world. Only then can he take the reins of this ship - and finally engage warp speed.”
The Guardian
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett said she is hungry for art and culture in the current climate.
“There are four novels currently on my desk that are set in or acknowledge lockdown,” she said. “I’m desperate to know how these times are being interpreted by artists and I think others will be too.”
She said there is something comforting in knowing that, after so much aloneness, you are not alone.
“This completely insane, terrifying, surreal time warrants creative exploration. It could be that there will be a boom in work about Covid and then we’ll move on, or it might be, as I suspect, that we will spend the rest of our lives looking back on this time and thinking ‘what was that?’”
The Scotsman
Simon Capaldi, a partner at Knight Frank Edinburgh, said a year ago people were predicting the death of the office but now, given vaccination is underway, many people are looking forward to going back.
“A variety of studies in recent months have shown that workers do not want to return full time, instead favouring a hybrid model of time in the office and working from home,” he said. “Of course, there is no one size fits all approach to how businesses go about this - it will need to be specific to each of their needs.”
He said the changing needs of occupiers should provide landlords with food for thought.
“The great working from home experiment may be drawing to a close, but the great return to the office is just about to begin.
“There have been some important lessons learned about the relationship between occupiers, staff, property and landlords over the last 14 months that can inform how that process can unfold.”
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