Gordon Brown warns of decade of economic disaster after ‘unprecedentedly bad’ global Covid response

Former UK prime minister Gordon Brown described the international response to the pandemic as “unprecedentedly bad” on Wednesday and called for an urgent G20 meeting early next year to tackle the global recovery from Covid-19.

Mr Brown, now the United Nations special envoy for global education, said leaders must offer hope that the post-Covid world in 2021 will be better and that the 2020s will not become a decade of low growth and high unemployment.

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“The G20 was nominated as the premier forum for economic coordination and therefore, in those areas where the economy has affected fiscal policy, monetary policy, dealing with issues of debt and debt relief, debt restructuring ... the political leadership has got to be provided,” Mr Brown told delegates attending the virtual Maryam Annual Forum, hosted by the London School of Economics.

“We cannot expect the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank independently, without the support of the shareholders, to move ahead and do lots of things that really the political leaders are going to make a decision to do.”

Mr Brown said the focus around the handling of the pandemic has so far centred on national interests, taking the world back to the pre-Second World War 1930s, with the barrier to international action not caused by the “standoff between China and America", but by nationalism, "which must now be overcome".

“We have not seen the coordination of monetary and fiscal policy. We have not seen the coming together on matters of global health in the way that we had expected and we are riddled by rhetoric that is nationalist, protectionist, xenophobic, isolationist, and has all the tools of the 1930s when Churchill said that politicians were ... all powerful for impotence,“ he said.

Mr Brown offered two proposals to tackle Covid going forward, with the first a global recovery programme for the world economy.

“We've had a huge amount spent to stop businesses collapsing, to protect people in jobs, to keep economies in being, to keep companies in being, but we do not have a recovery plan for the world economy,” he said.

Such a programme would not focus on the medical roots of the crisis but also ensure the vaccine will be distributed to as many people as possible, he said.

“If 12 per cent of the population in the richest countries are going to have 50 to 60 per cent of the vaccine, people will see that this world is not working well,” said Mr Brown.

Mr Gordon’s second proposal is for a global growth plan, facilitated by his proposed G20 meeting early in the New Year, with President-elect Joe Biden in a position to call for it to be convened.

The meeting could address the funding of vaccines for poorer nations as well as coordinate fiscal policy to "maximise the growth that is possible across the world as happened in 2009-10", Mr Brown said.

While the IMF has put a proposal to the G20 to boost global economic activity by $2 trillion, Mr Brown said the plan does not address the needs of lower and middle income countries.

Minouche Shafik, director at LSE, said international tax reform was also needed to achieve a fair distribution of corporate taxation around the world to enable more countries to benefit from that revenue. She also urged governments to keep "aid programmes at a generous level to help other countries who cannot afford to provide a decent minimum for everyone".

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Her call comes weeks after UK finance minister Rishi Sunak cut the UK's foreign aid budget to 0.5 per cent of national income as he looked for ways to help pay for the Covid-induced economic crisis.

Mr Brown said the world has been "unduly defeatist about the possibilities of international cooperation" and that there should be more optimism around what can be achieved to ensure 150 million people do not end up in poverty.

"We managed to eliminate smallpox, we managed to deal with the worst of polio, we managed to deal with the worst of HIV AIDS, we managed also to deal with the ozone layer ... surely, in the biggest crisis of all in the last 100 years, it is possible for international cooperation to be more effective,” he said.

“With a new regime in America and also with the cooperation of all countries like China, we can actually make something of this in the new year," he said.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

THE SPECS

Engine: 3-litre V6

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 424hp

Torque: 580 Nm

Price: From Dh399,000

On sale: Now

David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1 minute, 35.246 seconds.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Mercedes, 1:35.271.
3. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mercedes, 1:35.332.
4. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.497.
5. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1:35.571.
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.815.
7. Daniil Kvyat, Russia, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:35.963.
8. Lance Stroll, Canada, Racing Point BWT Mercedes, 1:36.046.
9. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 1:36.065.
10. Pierre Gasly, France, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:36.242.

Eliminated after second session

11. Esteban Ocon, France, Renault, 1:36.359.
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Renault, 1:36.406.
13. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Ferrari, 1:36.631.
14. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:38.248.

Eliminated after first session

15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.075.
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.555.
17. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas Ferrari, 1:37.863.
18. George Russell, Great Britain, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.045.
19. Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazil, Haas Ferrari, 1:38.173.
20. Nicholas Latifi, Canada, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.443.

Three ways to boost your credit score

Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:

1. Make sure you make your payments on time;

2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;

3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

Match info:

Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')

Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')

On Women's Day

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

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Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'

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Dubai World Cup Carnival Thursday race card

6.30pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes Group Three US$200,000 (Turf) 2,000m
7.05pm: Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,600m
7.40pm: UAE Oaks Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
8.15pm: Zabeel Mile Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,600m
8.50pm: Meydan Sprint Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,000m
9.25pm: Handicap $135,000 (D) 1,400m
10pm: Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,600m

RESULT

Brazil 2 Croatia 0
Brazil: Neymar (69'), Firmino (90' 3)

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo

Transmission: CVT

Power: 170bhp

Torque: 220Nm

Price: Dh98,900

How it works

A $10 hand-powered LED light and battery bank

Device is operated by hand cranking it at any time during the day or night

The charge is stored inside a battery

The ratio is that for every minute you crank, it provides 10 minutes light on the brightest mode

A full hand wound charge is of 16.5minutes

This gives 1.1 hours of light on high mode or 2.5 hours of light on low mode

When more light is needed, it can be recharged by winding again

The larger version costs between $18-20 and generates more than 15 hours of light with a 45-minute charge

No limit on how many times you can charge

UNSC Elections 2022-23

Seats open:

Two for Africa Group
One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
One for Eastern Europe Group

Countries so far running:

UAE
Albania
Brazil

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More from Tom Fletcher

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'Peninsula'

Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Rating: 2/5

Usain Bolt's time for the 100m at major championships

2008 Beijing Olympics 9.69 seconds

2009 Berlin World Championships 9.58

2011 Daegu World Championships Disqualified

2012 London Olympics 9.63

2013 Moscow World Championships 9.77

2015 Beijing World Championships 9.79

2016 Rio Olympics 9.81

2017 London World Championships 9.95

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

While you're here

Con Coughlin: Nato must renew its sense of common purpose

Sholto Byrnes: In today's times, what is Nato really good for?

C Uday Bhaskar: Could the 'Quad' become Asia's new Nato?

FIXTURES

All games 6pm UAE on Sunday:
Arsenal v Watford
Burnley v Brighton
Chelsea v Wolves
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Everton v Bournemouth
Leicester v Man United
Man City v Norwich
Newcastle v Liverpool
Southampton v Sheffield United
West Ham v Aston Villa

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

Killing of Qassem Suleimani

National Editorial: Suleimani has been killed, now we must de-escalate

Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead

Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble

Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks

Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground

Simon Waldman: Cautious Israel keeping a low profile

Why seagrass matters

Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality

Specs

Engine: 2-litre

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 255hp

Torque: 273Nm

Price: Dh240,000

While you're here

National Editorial: Why is a Muslim Brotherhood-linked app still on Apple and Google Play?

Damien McElroy: Europe's response to Islamist extremism is encouraging but not enough

Con Coughlin: How extremists are using Zoom and other tools to exploit this pandemic

FIXTURES

Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan

The top two teams qualify for the World Cup

Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.

Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place playoff

Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence

Steve Baker
Peter Bone
Ben Bradley
Andrew Bridgen
Maria Caulfield
Simon Clarke
Philip Davies
Nadine Dorries
James Duddridge
Mark Francois
Chris Green
Adam Holloway
Andrea Jenkyns
Anne-Marie Morris
Sheryll Murray
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Laurence Robertson
Lee Rowley
Henry Smith
Martin Vickers
John Whittingdale

MATCH INFO

Fulham 0

Aston Villa 3 (Grealish 4', Hourihane 15', Mings 48')

Man of the match: Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

Top tips to avoid cyber fraud

Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:

1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.

2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.

3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.

4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.

5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.