Dear LPG,

We have all heard the stories and seen the statistics that prove that Covid-19 has left so many of us ordinary people having to protect ourselves from a lot more than the obvious dangers of the pandemic.  The news is full of how the self-isolation that accompanied it, has affected us on so many other levels. 

I have heard reports that when it eventually is safe to go back onto the streets, there will be a significant percentage of people that will be too frightened to do that, and many of them will be older rather than younger.  We have all heard about the many illegal gatherings on last summer’s beaches, the demonstrations denouncing the importance of keeping our distance and last winter’s lockdown holiday gatherings that have occurred in spite of the maximum amount of people allowed in the bubbles we have all got used to the government telling us about.

Thinking about this got me realising that, in spite of all the years I have spent in the world, and before the word coronavirus ever became a fact of world-life, I have never really taken a risk. 

I took a look online and found some statistics that show that most of us UK residents are more likely to skip the whole risk taking thing, but I also wonder how many of us get to this time of life and regret something that they did not dare to do back in the day.

In the light of the many national celebration or awareness days that we now have, I did search the internet but I can find no national day specifically dedicated to risk assessment, but the internet is full of, statements issued by various government departments about money laundering risks, natural hazard risks and other strategic aspects of protecting the nation from national jeopardy. 

But what about each member of the British population?  We have all taken risks at some time during our lives, I think that getting married, buying a house, emigrating to a new country and even visiting some of the more exotic holiday destinations all come with varying levels of risk, and while assessment has to be a watchword, one of the biggest risks is getting to a ripe old age and regretting not having done something that you really wanted to.   

So, I think that while so many of us are still reluctant to risk venturing past our front doors, we should each nominate ourselves a ‘National day of personal risk assessment’, where we look back at one of those ambitions that we have not yet realised and, while taking into serious consideration our physical, mental and financial ability to succeed, and the fact that  trying and failing is better than never having tried at all,  throw a carefully measured amount of caution to the wind before preparing to do it as soon as lockdown allows us to!

VC, Telegraph Hill

VC shares her findings on the relative reluctance of UK residents to take risks...

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… the sort of national risk assessments that attract the government’s attention… 

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… and evidence she has found to suggest that the odd calculated risk is good for us…

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