EDITION 865
19 APRIL 2021

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday at 10am. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

1. How to build a better morning routine. A good morning routine can help you be productive for the rest of the day. Many try to get much of their work done by 09:00, while some prefer getting their meetings out of their way early in the day so they can then hit the ground running. Here are some tips to build a good routine: READ MORE

2. Fitting farewell for Prince Phillip. The Duke of Edinburgh was laid to rest following a funeral at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday. The Dean of Windsor paid tribute to Prince Philip’s “kindness, humour and humanity” during the service. The BBC reported that the Queen was “alone but for the gaze of the world", while the Mail on Sunday said, “it was a fitting farewell, ma’am”. The Sunday Times said the royal family “mixed protocols with precaution”. The funeral was watched by more than 13 million television viewers in the UK. Editor

3. Universities won’t grade spelling. University tutors are being told not to mark down work for spelling mistakes because insisting on correct English could be seen as “homogenous north European, white, male, elite’. Several institutions are adopting "inclusive assessments” and Hull University says it will “challenge the status quo” by dropping the requirement for a high level of written and spoken English. The Times

4. What burnout does to your mental health. We’ve heard the phrase, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen." But for many of us working at home due to the pandemic, we can’t get out of our kitchens. When left unchecked, that heat - or burnout - can lead to insomnia, high blood pressure and heart disease. Misconceptions about burnout still abound, though. Burnout goes beyond feeling emotionally and mentally exhausted. In fact, the World Health Organization called burnout an occupational phenomenon in its International Classification of Diseases. Editor

5. FTSE reaches pandemic era high. The FTSE 100 passed 7,000 points for the first time in 14 months in a £532bn comeback from pandemic lows. The index closed 0.5% or 36.03 points higher at 7019.53 as trillions of dollars in stimulus and the growing momentum behind vaccine roll-outs triggered a share “melt-up” and traders bet on a rapid worldwide bounce back. There is “surging optimism” over the global economy. The Daily Telegraph

6. Dear Diary, Today I. If you've ever thought about starting a journal, there's no time like the present. Just 10 minutes a day can be game-changing and beneficial to our physical and mental health. If you're struggling with what to put down on paper, one expert says to be the "hero" of your own story. Writing about the life you want to have can help you manifest that life. Also, try out the HAPPE method: H: Handwriting; A: As if (what you're writing about is happening now); P: Person, as in the third person; P: Positive; and E: Emotions. The Wall Street Journal

7. Magic mushrooms may ease depression. Scientists have found that magic mushrooms could be used as a treatment for depression. A phase-two clinical trial has revealed that two doses of psilocybin, when combined with psychological therapy, appear to be as effective as the common antidepressant escitalopram in treating moderate to severe major depressive disorder. However, the experts at Imperial College London have warned against using magic mushrooms bought illegally for “DIY treatment”. Daily Mail

8. House prices up by £7,000 in a month. Homebuyers this spring are facing the highest house prices seen in Britain after the average increased by almost £7,000 in the past month alone. The average price has hit £327,797, an increase of more than £4,000 on the previous record set last October. Sellers are also finding buyers at record speed, with almost a quarter agreeing a sale within a week, data from the Rightmove property site said. From today, buyers will need a deposit of 5 per cent to apply for mortgages with the launch of a new system of government guarantees. The Times

9. Self-driving cars are racist. New self-driving cars may display racist and sexist behaviour, according to an official body. The Law Commission says the autonomous vehicles may “struggle to recognise dark-skinned faces in the dark” because facial recognition software may be less accurate at detecting “non-white and non-male faces”. The Department for Transport claims the UK will be a leader of the driverless car revolution. The Sunday Times

10. The bottom line. Britons have saved an estimated £180bn in their bank accounts during the pandemic, and economists predict a spending spree will help revive the economy in just over 12 months. BBC