Good morning.
The hospitality industry is calling for an extension to the rent moratorium(£), amid fears of a deluge of winding-up petitions from landlords.
Meanwhile local lockdowns are hurting small businesses(£) just as they are trying to recover.
Fewer than half of employees think their workplaces are ‘Covid-secure'(£)…
… and the “work from home” message(£) being put out by the Welsh government appears to flatly contradict the “get back to the office” mantra of Number 10.
The FT (£) says the changes to how businesses use their offices could leave lasting scars on the urban economy…
… while the Chartered Management Institute says that pushing people back into the office risks excluding women and people from ethnic minorities.
And, to cap it all, half a million jobs(£) are expected to disappear this autumn.
Robert Jenrick is facing a rebellion among Tory MPs(£), who have taken to sending rude messages about his planning reforms via Whatsapp.
House prices are predicted to fall by 14% next year(£), once the stamp duty cuts and the real economic impact of coronavirus is felt.
Not that first time buyers can buy anything anyway, as lenders scrap low deposit loans(£).
Capital & Counties was among the biggest fallers on the stock exchange on Friday, dropping 5.73% to close at 123.3p.
In April MediaCityUK in Salford was named the world’s second Wired Certified Neighbourhood by WiredScore. But what does it take to get so connected?
It would take 200 years for female fund managers(£) to reach level footing with their male colleagues.
New Look(£) has said it will collapse unless landlords agree to its punitive CVA. Boohoo, meanwhile, is keen on buying the brand(£) and leaving the stores to rot.
The owners of Debenhams are hoping for a £200m boost by selling Denmark’s Magasin du Nord(£).
Nimax will reopen six West End theatres from October.
And SoftBank is talking about going private(£) again.
The PM is preparing to back floating wind turbines(£) in a forthcoming speech…
… but without changes to its ‘broken’ planning system(£), Ireland will miss its wind energy targets.
And finally, prayers have been answered in the West Midlands as a new monument in Coleshill got the council’s blessing. The Eternal Wall of Prayer(£) will take the shape of an ‘infinity loop’ or Möbius strip and will be just a few inches shorter than Nelson’s Column. It will comprise a million bricks, all giving testimony to prayers that have been answered, which will be accessible by an app. Of course, there is one fairly sizeable prayer that needs to be answered – the £9.35m needed to get it built.
