There’s an old cliché that business leaders don’t understand politics and politicians don’t understand business. It’s a generalisation, of course, but there’s some truth to it. Yet there’s never been a more important time than now for the CEOs of major companies to understand the domestic and broader international political environment. Their companies are going to have to depend on it.

Governments have decided to seize control of most of the levers of their countries during the COVID-19 crisis. It is critical that CEOs are able to understand why governments are making the decisions they are making. For a start, are these decisions based on science, as the politicians claim, or is it true they’re doing constant polling to establish the public mood and are as much responding to the public mood as they are to the scientists?