All the indicators point toward a sweet and sour year for start-ups. While UK tech startups raised €5.3 billion in venture capital funding between January and May 2020, similar to in 2019, the optimism appears to be subsiding in the second half of the year.
Chart of the Week
According to the Bank of England, the availability of mortgages declined dramatically in the three months ending May 2020 – implying a bigger credit squeeze than in the worst three-month period of the global financial crisis.
Chart of the Week
Wayne Rooney decried that ‘[If] Manchester United or Man City need 30 per cent of their players’ wages to survive… then football is in a far worse position than any of us imagined.’.
Prof. Kishore Mahbubani
Prof. Kishore Mahbubani
On the state of UK Business Closures
13.5% of all UK businesses have temporarily closed or paused trading, during the lockdown, with 86.4% of workers in these businesses on furlough.
Public Opinion following Covid 19
While it is still uncertain how the United Kingdom’s economic policy will be reframed by the pandemic, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have already publicised what they term a ‘Rooseveltian’ approach to the economy, striving to strengthen public spending across multiple sectors of the economy.