Elephants are likely to feel an approaching tsunami.

Maybe correspondents can similarly feel an impending drying up?

The beer I ordered at a London pub in mid-March was at least the last of the spring, both for me and for the pub that was forced to strike when the first corona wave hit Britain hard.

In several places, it is time again for the last order before closing.

Growing corona fear

When I saw the British now and then reaching for the emergency brake, hoarding toilet paper and pasta, I remember calling home to Brussels: "Honey, buy home properly with food because now the whole of Europe is closing in on me."

Despite the tough shutdown that followed, the result was a nightmare for the British.

It received both Europe's highest absolute death toll, so far 43,000 dead, and the strongest economic crash, minus 20.4 percent.

The fear of the corona, which is now growing again with a second wave of infections, is the sum of all the misery that follows in the footsteps of the pandemic.

Getting sick or losing their elderly relatives, of course.

But also to get rid of the job or to not be mentally strong anymore when all the fun is closed again for an indefinite future.

Affects employees

It's easy for the cliché to become a focus on the pubs as soon as it's about the UK, I think when I in tonight's Foreign Office are asked what this really means.

The fact that the pubs are forced to close is actually the worst for all the young people who work there, often immigrants from EU countries but strong social safety nets in the UK.

There is already more than a doubling of young people applying for social benefits to survive.

This time, no correspondent is required to predict a slight drying up this autumn.

Hard-hit Liverpool and the surrounding area are already out and the pub closures are expected to spread quickly in the country.

But if one is to believe surveys, most Britons still seem to be prepared for fairly large restrictions on their freedom, as long as it stops infection and saves lives.

Watch this week's episode of the Foreign Office on the UK and the second corona wave here on SVT Play or on SVT2 at 21.45.