AND FINALLY AND FINALLY
Aſter 3 successive lockdowns and with 33 million now receiving their first dose of the Coronavirus Vaccine, the Business World in the UK, is poised to re-open to the public and business as usual is the expected outcome. Would we be in this situation without Brexit? It’s clear from the press reports, that a “bunker mentality” has struck most leading EU leaders and they are under a severe attack of “Institutional Incompetence” in not making sufficient plans with any stealth to secure the availability of enough vaccine for their respective populations. Is this possibly the one glowing example of why Brexit was right for the UK ? It’s particularly sad that an organisation like AstraZeneca has been the focus of politically driven ridicule by certain politicians around the world as a result of the speed of vaccination progress in the UK. Full credit to Nadhim Zahawi MP for taking on the role as Minister for Covid Vaccinations Deployment. Nadim is one of very few politicians with a strong business background (Gulf Keystone Petroleum & YouGov) and he has certainly demonstrated his ability to organise the successful distribution of vaccines and the creation of vaccine centres countrywide. AstraZeneca meanwhile have forgone a potential profit from Covid of circa £21 Billion, as CEO Pascal Soriot stated that he “could not look his children in the eyes” if he used this pandemic to create a profit for his company. Clearly he should have priced in the risk to the reputation that the AstraZeneca brand has suffered as a result of the international political posturing! So the engines are revving, the facilities are receiving the last deep cleanse and we are getting ready for the leisure and hospitality sectors to reopen. Our Spring edition of Welding World magazine deals with many aspects and thoughts running through the minds of business people at this crucial moment and we hope that you find many of them useful in assessing the opportunities and the tests that lay ahead.
We have a great feature on the women that are making great strides in their welding engineering careers and we hope to encourage many many more to join our wonderful industry. The news of the Duke of Edinburgh’s
passing is received with much sadness. The Queen alongside the Duke have been a fabulous partnership and together they have served the UK and Commonwealth with such hard work and unquestionable loyalty and diligence. For me personally they have always been a Royal couple to be admired and the role that they have both played has created and deserves huge respect. For us all, it will now be very difficult to see the Queen without the Duke of Edinburgh by her side. Our heartfelt condolences from us all in the Welding World, to the Queen and her family.
www.royal.uk We hope you enjoyed your Easter break safe in the mind that the UK is ahead of the rest of the world in hopefully putting COVID behind us, but remember to keep safe (Hands, Face, Space) as it’s not totally beaten yet!
Kind regards,
Adrian Hawkins OBE Managing Director, Welding World Ltd
managing.director@
welding-world.com
www.awd.org.uk
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Photo by freepik -
www.freepik.com
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