The storming of Harrods provides clues about how the economy has been shaped by Covid

The message is this: we want to spend and if we can’t spend on fun, we’ll spend on stuff. But this is likely to change with the arrival of the vaccine, writes Hamish McRae

Four were arrested over the weekend after trying to get into Harrods (Getty Images)

A lot of us just want to shop. The wave of would-be buyers that tried to storm Harrods in London over the weekend says something about how fed up people are with the Covid rules. Four were arrested.

We want to get back to normal. Or at least many of us do. Harrods is, of course, top end. A bit further down the scale we have the disasters at Debenhams and the various bits of Sir Philip Green’s empire. In New York, Bloomingdales is open, but is emphasising curbside pickup for goods ordered online. And in the US overall, Black Friday seems to have been a bit of a Bleak Friday for in-store shopping, while a boom for online.  

So the evidence on shopping is mixed. We certainly want to buy stuff, but as yet many people are too worried to do so in person. However, this is very much what you would expect. We have not yet had the jab. We know that we will be able to get one of the vaccines probably by Easter, but until we do, it makes sense for many people – clearly not all – to want to hold back.