London asking prices slashed

Going for a song

A third of homes for sale in London have had their initial asking prices slashed while on the market in a bid to tempt buyers. The new figures by estate agent Benham and Reeves suggest the capital is more of a buyers’ market than other areas of the country. Why? Lower demand, with fewer foreign buyers and former commuters leaving the city in search of more space.

Holidays are happening

From Sunday, seven countries including Germany, Austria and Norway will be added to the travel green list. That means people can travel there without quarantining on the way home. Double jabbed jet setters will have the same deal with France, which will jump to amber from amber-plus.

Minimum wage shame

Pret, McColls, and John Lewis are among almost 200 firms which have been named and shamed for paying workers less than minimum wage. A report found that 34,000 workers were underpaid between 2011 and 2018 to the tune of £2.1 million. The businesses were forced to repay the money and were also fined a further £3.2 million.

More investment, please

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have written to pension fund managers bigging up UK startups and infrastructure projects. They want them to put more money into long term domestic investments. Pension funds from Canada, Australia and others already invest here. But there are more regulatory hurdles for UK pension funds, which Johnson has said he’ll try to reduce.