Rishi Sunak: The Almost Nearly Perfect Person

Scratch the surface and you will see more missed opportunities than good policies from super Sunak. 

In 2014 Michael Booth lifted the lid on the so-called Nordic Miracle in a book entitled 'The Almost Nearly Perfect People'. 

Noticing that Scandinavian countries nearly always rank top in the World Happiness Report he attempted to explain what makes living in places such as Denmark - where its citizens pay some of the highest taxes in the world and endure grim weather most of the year - so damn good. 

The answer is less to do with the practicalities of perfection and more to do with the perception. Indeed, the deeper you dig the darker the picture becomes in a region plagued by taboos, characterised by suffocating parochialism and populated by extremists of various shades.

Eat out 

I got thinking about the book on my way home from town last night after seeing all the restaurants full or nearly full in thanks, one would assume, to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. 

Early indications suggest the scheme has been a great success, with restaurants enjoying the ‘busiest Monday of the year’ as bargain hunters flood to cash in on half priced meals. 

Data compiled by the retail analyst Springboard – which covers hospitality businesses – shows shopper visits were up almost 30 per cent versus last week, while the restaurant booking platform Opentable said there was a ten per cent jump in the number of diners compared with the same day last year.

Just the tonic, you might say, and another win for our almost nearly perfect chancellor. Yet scratch the surface and you see more missed opportunities than good policies.

Missed opportunities vs good policies 

First, we should preface this by saying Sunak is in a very fortunate position, at least for now. He has been given carte blanche to roll out schemes that would make even Gordon Brown's eyes water such is the spending involved. 

An estimated £500 million of taxpayers' money will be used to subsidise food this month, that's on top of the billions of pounds spent on the furlough scheme and vast sums of money spent elsewhere. 

That money is likely to unproportionately go into the pockets of those who need it the least, with major corporations such as McDonald's and Burger King able to cash in on the offer despite government health messages urging people to stay out of such establishments. 

Emergency business loans 

It chimes with the emergency business loans which - although much needed - were probably not the right mechanism for keeping firms afloat. 

As we have seen with the furlough scheme, once the tap is turned off all Sunak has succeeded in doing is delaying the inevitable. 

Soon many businesses will find their debt repayments will pile in as they try battle their way through a slow economic recovery - which is the last thing they need. 

As I noted here, I just hope super Sunak has given as much thought to the payback as he did to the payout.