Today is National Meteor Watch Day when we are invited to look upwards to the Heavens and hope for a spectacular display of fireworks. Unfortunately, we will probably be disappointed as the next major night-time season doesn’t start until 17 July. But don’t be too put off. With new international travel arrangements coming back into force, you may see a different, but equally strange-looking object flying overhead instead. In case you’ve forgotten… it’s called an airplane! But hopefully in their case, they will remain entirely whizz-bang free!

But talking of meteor showers, we do love a good crash and burn, don’t we? And not only in the sky. None of our politicians, athletes, celebrities or businessmen are exempt from the risk of universal back-lash for their failures and past misdemeanours. And, as we know, national forgiveness can be a rare commodity as the descendants of Messrs Baden-Powell, Colston, Columbus, Guy, Milligan and Rhodes (so far) will attest. And a good old fashioned stock market crash can be fun to watch too, as it was back in March. That is, until you realise that your pension and life-savings have gone down the tubes with it. The economic sparks from coronavirus have just started to fly, with UK public debt now over 100% of GDP and quantitative easing reaching the astronomical height of £745 billion, up from £435 billion in March. And unemployment is poised to explode too as, in August, employers will have to finally choose between redundancies or making contributions alongside the Government’s furloughing scheme. Unlike meteor showers though, the display won’t be pretty. But, hey… let’s not be too down-hearted. Whilst Intu's demise was always a calamity waiting to happen, near-record prices are still being paid for prime offices and industrial investments in London. And, whilst The Weekly doesn’t want to be a complete misery-guts, even if the property sector does avoid a full blown crash and burn, it will surely not escape a really nasty bump and scold.

As the late, great Bill McLaren may well have said, ‘’They will be dancing the Highland Fling along Princes Street tonight, albeit with the appropriate social distancing.’’ And rightly so, as Edinburgh has once again topped St Bride’s Annual UK Key Cities (ex-London) Index. The index has once again been compiled for us by our good friends at Ramidus Consulting. For the folk forty-seven miles west along the M8 though, they will be rather less happy, as Glasgow is ranked a rather lowly twenty-ninth. The model was first launched in 2011 to identify the UK’s most resilient regional towns and cities for long-term investment in the traditional office, retail and industrial sectors. Whilst London, of course, stands heads and shoulders above all our other cities, let’s not forget that our regions still have a population of fifty-eight million people. Only three countries in the EU (Germany, France and Italy) have a larger population than that. Overall, the 2020 results (click here) indicate that small is beautiful. Out of the top twenty, thirteen are smaller cities. And surprise, surprise, twelve are in the South East/East. Boris’s ‘levelling up’ programme still has a very long way to go!

By applying further screening for liquidity and transparency, St Bride’s have produced a Premier League for each of the three principal sectors - St Bride’s UK Key Cities - Premier Leagues 2020.

But for those football fans amongst our readership, what is particularly disheartening is that only two, Manchester and Birmingham, have representation in both the St Bride's Premier City Leagues and the EPL. And, even then, Aston Villa’s prospects of surviving relegation this year are looking distinctly precarious.