Here is a video reflecting on the impact that COVID had on Greater Manchester five years on and some of the questions that we still face in the area.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World, my name's Theo Huston-Betts and today's video is all about
00:03reflecting on lockdown five years on from the time it kicked in. So after five years, what's
00:08changed here in Manchester? Covid lockdown began five years ago yesterday as I'm filming this and
00:14for many people it's been impossible to move on from regardless of its importance to us now.
00:18Let's start with the changes to work. Manchester is now more full than ever of young professionals
00:23and work from homes become really normalised. Most people are only travelling into the office
00:27a few times a week. It's fundamentally changed the way we view work and work-life balance
00:32and I personally have fond memories of sleeping through university lectures that don't tell anyone.
00:36As for Andy Burnham, he became king of the north. The mayor was one of the few politicians who
00:40emerged from Covid with a massively improved reputation up here. Burnham battled with
00:44Westminster over the difference of the treatment between the north and south of the country.
00:47It did have a massive impact on the economy though, businesses were forced to close all over
00:51the place and the cost of living crisis was massively influenced by lockdown as well as
00:55factors such as Liz Truss's premiership. As for young people, they're going out less, they're
01:00drinking less and it's negatively impacting the nighttime economy and increasing loneliness. Many
01:04may not approve of pubs and drinking but it gave young people opportunities to socialise and meet
01:08people of different generations. There is this risk of a loneliness epidemic that we're seeing
01:12in places like Japan, so how can we counteract that? The simple answer is we don't know. Covid
01:18was a massively influential thing, it's something that we looked back on in history for a long long
01:22time. I used to look back on lockdown at some of my lowest days despite the self-improvement that I
01:26managed to find there. It's okay to feel like life is moving on too quick now, it's okay to be scared
01:31of what comes next but remember that when you're walking through the streets of Greater Manchester
01:35it's something that unites us all. Five years on, Covid is still raising more questions than it is
01:39answers but rest assured, together we're getting somewhere. That's all for now, follow Manchester
01:44World for more.