Either The Weekly is going completely mad or sporting headlines are once again beginning to grab our attention. The England v West Indies Test series, which was due to begin at the Oval this week, has been rescheduled for July. And, although due to be played behind closed doors, it now appears to have a genuine chance of taking place. Alongside this, we are now less than a fortnight away from the restart of the Premier League! UK sport to one side, this week's sporting headlines have belonged to the oval ball. Dan Carter, the highest points scorer in rugby test match history, announced this week that he would be returning to New Zealand, signing for the Auckland Blues. But, 'the best fly half of all time' may struggle to get a starting position, as he joins up with another new signing for the Blues, Beauden Barrett, who has been voted the 'current best fly half in the world'. Selection dependent, fans will be able to see these two greats come together when the Blues host the Hurricanes on 14 June. Unfortunately for the UK-based readership of The Weekly, the game kicks off at 4am BST. Maybe one to watch on catch-up!

The Weekly’s webinar diary was chock-a-bloc this week, with the first stop being the AREF/IPF’s joint webinar on Tuesday morning on social impact investing. The event saw several speakers brought together from their kitchens and studies, each to discuss their recent experiences. Understandably, the focus was on two main questions. Firstly, are investors willing to forego some return for making a social impact? And it seems the answer, even if it is not as solid as it once was, remains, No. The second focus of discussion was how to measure social impact. The E (Environmental) and G (Governance) of ESG have been measurable for some time, be it through BREEAM, GRESB or Governmental Audits. But measuring the S is still an area of contention. Whereas it is (relatively) straightforward to estimate, for example, the number of new jobs created, or the positive effect of an affordable housing scheme on the number of homeless people in an area, there is still no official ‘catch all’ benchmark. Many of The Weekly’s readers will be aware of St Bride’s White Rose Partnership which was launched in 2012 to help stimulate the Yorkshire economy and property market following the GFC. If the economic and social fall-out from COVID-19 is as traumatic as we fear it will be, there will surely be the need for another ‘call-to-arms’ for regional impact support.

Semester Two came to an end for many English universities on Friday, with final year students submitting the last of their coursework and dissertations. Let's be honest, whilst a vast amount of individual effort will have been exerted, most of the papers probably won’t garner much of a readership. However, that is not the case for final year Aberdeen student George Innes, whose dissertation has grabbed the attention of both Stoke City football fans and Wall Street bankers. If that sounds like an eclectic readership mix, it may have something to do with his title; "A theoretical study into how the two goals scored by Stoke City straight from Rory Delap's long throws in their 3-2 loss against Everton on 14 September 2008 directly led to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley ceasing trading as investment banks on 21 September 2008." George stated that there was (a bit!) of blind faith involved. His idea of chaos theory will be published once it has been marked later in the year. For now, The Weekly is wondering if there is a tie between the 2015 Greek debt crisis and Jordan Spieth’s first Masters' win in the same year!!