It was a year ago this week, December 2020, that our colleague Robert Phillips wrote to you all with the following:
“It seems appropriate to end a tumultuous, uncomfortable year with two essays on health. Our wellbeing, economy and public services have taken a battering in the past twelve months, but we are optimistic that we can truly build back better as we emerge, vaccinated, from the pandemic”.
Well, the tumult hasn’t ended, we cannot say we’ve emerged yet from the pandemic and, as many of you know, Robert left us in June. He’s missed each and every day.
But, true to his spirit, Jericho has remained busy with a multitude of projects. First, on health we’ve been working with Stifel to explore the problems of the moment when it comes to organising healthcare but also what’s coming down the line as far as cutting edge medical research is concerned.
And there’s our project with Assura about the future of Primary Care – the real coalface of health and medical provision. We’re very proud of Practising Connection which is brimful of enlightened insight from experts and the realism of those to whom we the patients first turn when things go awry.
Healthcare has to be paid for and it’s often not cheap. But the overarching challenge of climate change needs addressing fast. We’ll require new regulation and, almost certainly, new taxes and incentives to pay for reach towards Net Zero. Our long-standing work with KPMG International on the Global Responsible Tax Programme has considered what might have to happen and we published a joint essay with the professional services firm here.
Net Zero will cost coming generations a lot if we don’t achieve it. But how savvy is Britain’s youth when it comes to handling finances and cash. Do they know their VAT from their Capital Gains and Inheritance Tax? Are they digital natives all likely to fall for the siren call of buy now pay later. We’ve been working on a fascinating study with Barclays LifeSkills to attempt to get inside the heads of the young to see what they really thing about pounds, shillings and pence. (Doesn’t that date me as a Boomer?) The podcast we created can be listened to here.
Most of you are probably professionals of some sort or another. What does it mean to be a professional in 2022? What do you profess? And what on earth are all those lawyers up to besides earning millions if they’re in the commercial magic circle and even considering abandoning partnership and floating on the stock market? You can listen to the podcast or read the write-up of the discussion.
And, finally, one of the most talked-about books this year was Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. Listen to our interview with him here as we discuss Brexit, imperialism and where UK Plc should go now – part of our work with investment bank, Stifel on the Double-Wicked Challenge of Brexit and COVID.
If you would like to find out more about any of our programmes do get in touch.
Keep well. Stay safe. Seasons greetings.
Team Jericho
December 2021
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