There is a way to ensure the safe return of festivals and other live events – but the government needs to help

The vaccine isn’t the shot in the arm the live events industry needs, James Moore argues. The government must act as an insurer of last resort to allow the good times to roll again

Events like Glastonbury are threatened by a lack of insurance cover  (Getty)

One of the problems with the pictures of Margaret Keenan making history through being the first person to receive a vaccination against Covid-19 is that it’s encouraging people to think everything will be back to normal in, let’s say, May for argument’s sake.

It won’t, of course, and even to move in that direction will require a measure of government action. Take the live events industry, which has lost nearly £60bn worth of business as a result of the pandemic with 90 per cent of this year’s festivals cancelled, sports being played out before empty stadiums if at all, venues with their backs against the wall through being shuttered since March.

The consequences of another year like this would be devastating for both, the industry and the economy. And it could happen even if the vaccine allows measures such as social distancing to be eased to allow events to go ahead.