According to the now massively outdated sporting calendar still hanging at The Weekly’s HQ, this weekend’s sporting attention should have been focused on Tokyo and the opening weekend of the XXXII Olympiad. Instead, our focus this afternoon is now likely to be split between the Test match at Old Trafford and the final round of Premier League matches. On Thursday night in Tokyo, inside the empty Olympic stadium, a ceremony was held to reset the clock, one year until the new opening ceremony. Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, insists the Games must go on, but Covid-19 doesn’t appear to be listening, does it? Furthermore, enthusiasm for the Olympics has plummeted in Japan since the virus arrived there in January. The government has closed their borders to most foreigners to protect the country from imported cases, and many Japanese people are in no hurry to see them re-open even for athletes or spectators. A recent opinion poll by the Kyodo news agency found just 23% of people in Japan now support the idea of holding the games if Covid-19 infections are still widespread next year. With exactly one year to go and uncertainty still so prevalent, a mammoth task lies ahead for the organisers, let alone the athletes. What isn't arguable though is the sentiment of the IOC President, Thomas Bach, who sees the Olympics as the great comeback festival of sport and a great symbol of hope, optimism, solidarity and unity. The Weekly's fingers and toes are firmly crossed. In the meantime, we will have to make do this afternoon with West Ham versus Aston Villa, in the claret and blue shirt derby.

Thursday saw the release of LSH’s UK Investment Transactions Bulletin (UKIT). The content of this report is rather stark, if not inevitable, given what has been going on (or not!) since the end of March. Total UK investment volumes slumped to £3.6bn in Q2, the lowest total recorded in the twenty-year history of LSH’s analysis and 73% below the five-year quarterly average. The impact has been especially acute at the larger end of the market, with the number of recorded transactions in Q2 being 58% below average. Again unsurprisingly, sectors that remained in operation throughout the lockdown were the most actively traded in Q2. At £831m, industrial accounted for a record 23% share of the total Q2 volume, of which 85% was distribution warehousing. The beleaguered retail sector endured its second-lowest quarterly volume on record, with activity of only £637m. Notably, for the first quarter on record, Q2 was devoid of a single shopping centre transaction! The office sector hasn’t escaped either. UK office volumes fell to a record low of £1.1bn, 78% below the five-year quarterly average, whilst Central London offices were hit hardest of all the sub-sectors, with a record-low volume of £595m equating to just a fifth of its average level. Thankfully though, this is all now in the past. Focus must be on what lies ahead, and positively, the easing of the lockdown went hand-in-hand with a clear improvement later in the quarter. Volumes in June reached £1.6bn, almost twice the level seen in May. Hopefully, the traditional summer property market 'lull' will be set aside this year and LSH’s next edition of UKIT, in late-October, will show further signs of improvement and positivity.

It is officially the summer holiday season. Schools are closed and yet most of us will chose not to travel abroad because of the coronavirus outbreak. For the week starting 6 July, the number of scheduled flights worldwide was down by 55% compared to the same week last year. However, Taipei Songshan airport in Taiwan has come up with a clever/bizarre/ridiculous (delete as appropriate) solution to help those missing the travel experience – a fake flight. Yes, you read that correctly. The airport put the idea on social media and around 7,000 people applied. Only sixty 'lucky' winners were chosen to come to the airport, check in, go through security and passport control, then board the plane and sit on it for fifteen minutes while it stayed on the tarmac. Whilst on board the Airbus A330, the passengers chatted with flight attendants and listened to a talk about how to stop the spread of the pandemic. Inflight meals weren’t provided, nor was there a duty-free trolley. Instead, the ‘travellers’ were treated to sandwiches in an airport terminal restaurant. Hopefully the restaurant had plenty of mirrors hanging from the walls, so those sixty people were able to have a good, long hard look at themselves!