Duck

Good morning, you glorious beasts.

Last night Rachel Reeves declared that Britain would become "the top destination for finance firms" after announcing banks can now offer mortgages up to 4.5 times your salary.

This should mean thousands more can get on the property ladder, with Nationwide immediately slashing their salary requirement to £30,000 (and others likely to follow suit).

The reforms also included a review of whether rent payment history should count towards applications, and guarantees over mortgage availability even if times get tough.

While perma-renters had cause to shed a happy tear, thankfully the Chancellor kept it together.

— Ed & Joe

MARKETS
The FTSE 100 just broke a record

It hit the 9,000 point mark for the first time in recorded history, meaning that investors have had a 10% gain in 2025 thus far. Huzzah! Everyone’s chuffed to bits because: 

Things were looking bad for so long

Every publicly traded company and their grandmother seemed to be leaving the London Stock Exchange. 

Wise. AstraZeneca. Deliveroo. 

It got so bad that Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein even turned to mocking us by flirting with the idea of listing in Hong Kong. 

But we’re at the mercy of bigger, better forces

Mainly the economic volatility of Trumpian America, which has forced investors to diversify their portfolio away from the USA. 

Mostly caused, of course, by Trump imposing tariffs on every land under the sun, including an island in Antarctica inhabited entirely by penguins. 

Plus, Daddy Trump (the chief of NATO’s words, not mine) actually seems to like us, which makes investors like us, too. The UK was the first to agree a trade deal with the US. Rule Britannia, et cetera.

The warmongering helps, too

There’s been a surge in defence spending, too, which benefits our defence companies. BAE Systems’s value has risen 63% so far this year, while Babcock’s share price has more than doubled. 

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves

One of the reasons we’re doing so well is that the pound’s value has dropped 3.1% in the last 60 days.

So when FTSE 100 companies convert the foreign money they’ve made overseas, they get more bang for their buck back home in Blighty.

This should continue

Partly because Britain (at least in theory) is a bit more stable than other parts of Europe, which are ruled by coalition governments hanging by a thread. 

Plus, Trump is starting to agree to more trade deals with different countries. 

Let’s hope those penguins know what’s good for them.

AUTO
Buy an EV, get a 10% discount

So long as the car is worth less than £37,000. And it’s all thanks to a new government scheme.

Which doesn’t apply to Teslas

Because most new Tesla models are worth more than £40,000. 

And it doesn’t apply to Chinese cars, either. Chinese EV makers like BYD don’t meet the government’s criteria because their production processes are fueled by coal burning.

There are (roughly) 23 new eligible EV models  

If you believe the government, that is. 

The Department for Transport claims there are at least 23 new models that qualify under the new rules and are worth less than £30,000. 

Nissan’s Leaf, and Renault’s E5, for example. 

It’s the best thing since the Tories

Because Rishi Sunak’s government fined carmakers for every EV they failed to produce, annoying a lot of people - a scheme the Labour government has pledged to end. 

EV adoption is increasing

There are already more than a million EVs on British roads, a 38.6% increase year on year. 

This will put fire under the wheels of drivers, particularly when the government plans to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2030. 

WORK
Brits are terrified of returning to the office

According to a recent poll, with more than a third of Brits surveyed saying the possibility of going back is taking a toll on their so-called “mental health”. 

And it’s all to do with money

Nearly 60% of people are concerned that a daily commute would make a dent in their finances. Considering British train fares are the highest in Europe, I’m not surprised. 

Hybrid working is already the norm for most professionals, with nearly a quarter of British workers spending part-time in the office, and part-time at home. 

But everything’s changing

Big brands have started issuing return-to-office mandates to rather beleaguered employees. 

Santander and Barclays have been tightening rules, while HSBC went so far as to threaten staff with cutting their bonuses if they didn’t spend most of their time in the office. 

But some workers would rather be unemployed

Particularly the Scots, ever a proud and hardy breed, 80,000 of whom quit their jobs in the last year instead of leaving the comfort of their homes.

William Wallace would be proud.

NEWS BITES
This just in…

• 🇬🇧😮‍💨Britain is less polluted than it was 10 years ago, according to scientists from the University of Reading. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is produced by traffic, fell 35% on average at the 500 sites they’ve been monitoring, while PM.25 fine particles, caused by wood burning and cars, fell 30%. But there’s still work to do. Ozone (smog to you and me) has actually increased by 17%, although this might have more to do with rising temperatures caused by climate change. 

• 🤖🔞Reddit has started verifying the ages of British users to stop kids from viewing weird content. Using the firm Persona, users will have to upload selfies or photos of government IDs to view “mature” content. Reddit won’t have access to the images, but Persona will - for 7 days - and they “promise” to delete them… Other tech companies will jump on the bandwagon, considering the Online Safety Act will be in force by July 25. 

• 🌊⏱️A biblical flood is coming, according to the latest State of the UK Climate Report. Sea levels have risen by 13.4 cm since 1993, which far surpasses the global average of 10.6 cm. Which shouldn’t be surprising, considering melting ice, ocean expansion, and the fact that we’re a godforsaken island. Take note, friends: last year, floods and storms caused the worst damage across the country on record. Winters are getting wetter, summers drier. 

• 📕🦆SMEs are sitting ducks and totally unprepared for the new rules imposed by Companies House. Only 37% said they felt prepared for the mandatory identity verification for directors, company filers, and persons of significant control (PSCs)., which comes into effect this autumn. According to Companies House’s own data, barely 3% of businesses have actually completed the process, and fewer than half actually know who their PSCs are, meaning, of course, they don’t know who’s actually in charge. Which is modern Britain in a nutshell. 

• 🗣️🇬🇧A British startup’s AI model can recreate regional accents. Synthesia has spent the last year training its model on a database of British accents to recreate any voice. This might be a game-changer because voice recognition systems still can’t understand Brummie accents (and neither can I) because they’ve been trained on American and Southern English accents. 

• 🚨💳HMRC will fine crypto investors a staggering £300 if they don’t share information with their crypto exchange. These scary changes, which will come into effect in January 2026, are being imposed so Britain’s beloved tax collector can take more of crypto-fiends’ hard-earned bunce. They think the scheme will generate enough money to fund 10,000 nurses for a year. Well, I’m bloody terrified.