ALEX BRUMMER: Britain’s global ambitions depend on getting the world vaccinated

The first duty of any government is to protect the personal and economic security of its population.

Only those unwilling to give any credit to Boris Johnson’s government could afford to be critical of the UK’s Covid vaccine development and the speed of the roll-out.

Restoring the post-pandemic economy, jobs and living standards is critical, which is why panic responses to Omicron need to be resisted. 

A great deal of the initial testing of the Oxford Astrazeneca jab was done in South Africa

Even the minor restrictions imposed so far – such as the wearing of masks on public transport and in shops – produce a behavioural response.

Citizens generally will be more reluctant to socialise and consume. That’s why it seems unlikely that the Bank of England will rock the boat this month and raise interest rates precipitately. 

If it was waiting for furlough to end, it will now want to know more about the impact of the new Covid variant before taking on inflation.

Extending the vaccination envelope at home is a priority.

But now that production bottlenecks have been overcome, it is worth listening to Gordon Brown and the International Monetary Fund about vaccinating emerging markets and developing countries. 

A great deal of the initial testing of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine was done in South Africa, so it is scandalous that the region has not been better protected.

Given the time it has taken to achieve a workable malaria immunisation plan, however, perhaps we should not be surprised that Covid vaccination is so scarce in the developing world.

The great mantra of this century has been globalisation and how it is delivering wealth to the Pacific Basin, as well as to parts of Africa. 

The corollary of that for global Britain and the West is that it is in the national interest to make sure the vaccine is available in newly rich and developing countries.

Getting the world vaccinated is important if UK aerospace is not to be damaged any further, and aspiration for a more global Britain is to be achieved.

Future proofing

Inadvertently, the now much-quoted references to Peppa Pig provide a sharp reminder of what has been lost to the UK by overseas and private equity takeovers.

Peppa Pig is part of the US toymaker Hasbro and Peppa Pig World is in the hands of private equity behemoth Blackstone after owner Merlin Entertainments gave up on the FTSE.

What is encouraging is that the open season on the UK’s creative and innovative sectors is now facing proper challenge.

The takeover by Facebook-owner Meta of online Gif creator Giphy is reportedly to be reversed by the Competition and Markets Authority. 

Facebook had intended to merge the £290million Gif and animation purchase with its Instagram offshoot.

Britain is finally taking technology and creative loss seriously.

The flipping of UK satellite pioneer Inmarsat by private equity owners Apax and Warburg Pincus to US rival Viasat faces national security and R&D scrutiny.

It was neglectful that commercial satellite communications vital to the national interest was allowed to fall into the hands of financial players in the first place.

The most significant deal to hit roadblocks in the UK, Brussels and elsewhere is the proposed £30billion takeover of Britain’s smart-chip designer Arm Holdings by US firm Nvidia.

The delays are causing Nvidia to get cold feet and it faces the possibility of paying a break-fee of just under $1billion.

Owner Softbank may have to look for other options to cash in. The best solution for the UK would be a relisting in London. That won’t just happen.

Arm was sold because of previous insouciance on Downing Street. It would be great to see Boris Johnson’s government making an all-out effort to bring a future Arm public offering to the City.

That would be a huge signal of interest in Britain’s high-tech future.

#Jack’sWorld

Comebacks are not unknown in big tech with the late Steve Jobs’s return to Apple a celebrated example.

Jack Dorsey’s seven-year return to Twitter is a case in point. 

The social media site loved by the media, showbiz and exiled royals may have 200m users worldwide, but it has struggled with both monetising the site and monitoring users, having most famously outlawed Donald Trump. 

Dorsey’s departure will not be widely mourned by investors as the surge in the share price shows.

As far as Twitterati are concerned, Dorsey’s main claim to fame is not his entrepreneurship but his Rasputin-style beard.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk