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The days are numbered for the unexpected arrival of a Premium Bonds prize on the doormat, organisers have announced.Some prize winners still receive paper warrants – like a cheque – in the post when their lucky numbers are drawn.National Savings and Investments (NS&I), which runs the scheme, said these would be totally phased out by March.Instead, prizes will be paid directly into bank accounts.Premium Bonds are an investment product, bought for £1 each from NS&I and guaranteed by the Treasury. Investors are not paid interest but instead their Bonds are entered into a prize draw each month where they can win between £25 and £1 million tax free.The option of having prize money paid directly is already available and, in the latest draw, 74% of prizes were put straight into accounts or reinvested in more Premium Bonds.The traditional prize warrants can be cashed in at a bank or building society. Ian Ackerley, NS&I chief executive, said there was “understandable affection” for prizes being received by post, but direct payment was a much better system.”As well as being beneficial to our customers, this change will allow NS&I to manage Premium Bonds prize distribution more cost-effectively and with a much lower environmental impact,” he said.Premium Bonds customers will need to ensure NS&I has their up-to-date UK bank account details, along with an email address or UK mobile phone number, so that they can be notified of any prize wins.Those who fail to do so will still receive prize letters, explaining how to claim.NS&I stressed that it would never call customers to ask for their bank details.More than £88bn is invested in Premium Bonds by more than 21 million people.The chances of winning remain slim, with odds of 24,500 to one of each £1 Bond winning any of the tax-free prizes.Each month, Ernie – or Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment – makes the regular Premium Bonds draw from Blackpool.Its fifth incarnation – a computer chip the size of a grain of rice – has been drawing the winning numbers for the last 18 months. Selecting the numbers only takes minutes, compared to the nine hours taken by its immediate predecessor and the 10 days it took Ernie 1 to complete the draw.

John Lewis has confirmed that staff will not receive a bonus for the first time since 1953 after it was hit by lockdown store closures.The retailer – which also owns Waitrose – said it posted a £55m loss for the six months to 25 July after higher costs offset a 1% rise in sales.Its chairwoman told staff on Thursday the announcement “will come as a blow”.Even before Covid-19 hit, the chain had warned it might not pay the usual staff bonus as competition ate into profits.The last time that the chain, which operates as a partnership, decided not to pay a bonus to its staff was in the aftermath of World War Two.Chairwoman Dame Sharon White said: “We came through then to be even stronger and we will do so again.”She added: “I know this will come as a blow to partners who have worked so hard this year. The decision in no way detracts from the commitment and dedication that you have shown.”The retailer said store closures during lockdown and customers buying less profitable items, such as toilet paper or laptops, had hit trade.It estimated that in its first half, John Lewis shops took a hit of £200m in sales, while the wider group saw additional coronavirus-related costs total about £50m.But in a statement, it said that Waitrose had seen “a return to the weekly shop”, with like-for-like sales in Waitrose, which strip out the effect of new stores opening, up 10% year-on-year.Dame Sharon said the pandemic had brought forward changes in consumer shopping habits “which might have taken five years into five months”.

Grocery chain the Co-op saw sales rise in the first half of the year as customers shopped closer to home and ate out less during the pandemic.Like-for-like sales in food, which strip out the effect of new shops opening, increased by 8.8% in the six months to 24 July.Its boss said: “We are living in unprecedented times, but the response of our Co-op has been exceptional.”Co-op expects coronavirus-related costs to hit £97m for the full year.Chief executive Steve Murrells told the BBC’s Today programme that the boost in sales was largely down to “people shopping more locally during the crisis”.”We’re finding that when lockdowns happen… the average basket size doubles, but also local deliveries are very popular.”Mr Murrells added that 1.7 million new households had shopped at a Co-op store for the first time during the pandemic.Total revenues for the group increased by 7.6% to £5.8bn for the 26 weeks to 4 July, it said in its half-year results.Coronavirus costsDriven by an “exceptional performance” in food and wholesale trading, its profit before tax was also up 35% at £27m in comparison with the same period last year.The group did, however, take a hit of £54m in coronavirus-related costs, it said. That was largely down to additional store workers being recruited and the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) for those working in shops.The chain said it had recruited an extra 7,000 temporary workers to manage increased demand from customers.Earlier in September, Co-op also announced that it would create an additional 1,000 jobs and open 50 new stores before the end of the year, having paused on opening any new sites during lockdown.On Thursday, it said that it had paid out a total of £13m in “Covid-19 ‘thank you'” bonuses to staff that had worked on the “front-line” of shops during the pandemic.Co-op also confirmed that it had received £33m in government support in its first half, through furlough payments for a “limited number of colleagues” placed on leave, as well as business rates relief.The group said on Thursday that it now expects competition to “intensify” in the grocery sector, but believes it remains “well-positioned”.”The coming months and years remain uncertain, and we know our own Co-op will not be immune to the pressures the recession brings to family budgets and to local and national economies,” its chief executive said.

High Street fashion chain Next saw sales fall 34% as it bore the brunt of coronavirus, with wedding outfits and work clothes particularly badly hit.However, business had proven “more resilient than we expected”, the firm said.Pre-tax profit was £9m for first half of the year.Next said it was fortunate that half of its revenues were already coming from online sales before the onset of the pandemic.It also said sales held up better at Next’s out-of-town outlets, which customers can drive to more easily.Home, children’s wear, loungewear and sportswear sales did well.Next has revised its profit forecast for the full year from £195m to £300m.”From a business perspective, the pandemic has been hugely expensive and disruptive,” the firm said.

At Chad Jones’ feet is a sports bag that contains six boxes, each valued at between about $10,000 and $30,000 a pop. This inconspicuous holdall, which a few minutes ago was slung over his shoulder on its journey from the boot of his car to our table, is easily worth over six figures.The commodities Jones sells are not antiques or diamonds; they’re not fragile or laden with weight. They’re not handmade and they’re not particularly robust, either. They are highly collectable, artistically created and of an aesthetic born in his hometown of New York City. We’re talking trainers – or sneakers as they say in the United States. And yes, they really are that valuable.Jones, a 41-year-old former college basketball player from Brooklyn, also known as Sneaker Galactus,external-link specialises in collecting and selling unique footwear – those of limited production runs or symbolic of rare sporting backstories.He keeps them all in pristine, boxed condition – a prerequisite for any self-regarding sneakerhead – and on racks he picked up from a closing Foot Locker store. It’s a lifelong passion that has evolved into his livelihood, a business he has grown from a side hustle in his school days.”When I was in college, my mother lost her job,” Jones explains. “I had a car and my mother was paying for it. She told me she could no longer pay, so I started flipping [my extra pairs] out of the trunk.”I’d buy a pair of Air Jordan Concord 11s for $150 and sell them for $350. I sold enough to be able to get me through college and pay for the car. So I always knew there was something there.”It’s no coincidence that Jones was so drawn to these shoes, having grown up in 1980s Brooklyn. After all, it was this area of the five boroughs that benefited from some of the most important drivers of the sneaker culture we know today: hip hop, street basketball and Michael Jordan.Arguably the greatest player to ever shoot hoop, Jordan was born in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, just a few miles from Jones’ childhood home, although he moved to North Carolina at a young age.Jordan’s status in the eyes of 1980s USA was already rarefied thanks to his prowess on the court with the Chicago Bulls, but when almost exactly 35 years ago, on 15 September 1985, Nike released the Air Jordan 1s, it gave the fan on the street a tangible way to bring a little of his prestige to their own person.For many, the Air Jordan 1s are the shoe that kickstarted the global sneaker resale market, an industry recently valued at $6bn (£4.6bn) by Cowen Equity Research and predicted to be worth $30bn (£23bn) by 2030.external-link It is a theory seemingly supported by the eye-watering figures this particular model of trainer has sold for at auctions in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.Boosted by the release of the popular Last Dance Netflix series, which documents Jordan’s exploits at the height of his aerial powers, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have registered record prices at recent auctions.A pair of game-worn Air Jordan 1s High, replete with an embedded shard of glass from a backboard shattered by a particularly powerful Jordan dunk, sold for a record $615,000 (£468,000) at Christies this August. That merely followed the previous high watermark set by a Sotheby’s auction held in May, when another signed pair of Air Jordan 1s netted $560,000 £426,000).The Air Jordan 1s are of particular value. They were they designed by legendary sneaker designer Peter Moore. They reflected Jordan’s specific request to feel ‘closer to the court’ by removing the air bubble from the sole. And they were also famously banned by the NBA within a month of release.This led to a notoriety among fans that quickly turned the sneaker into a sales phenomenon. Nike, ever attuned to a marketing opportunity, exploited the situation with a widely broadcast advertexternal-link that boasted: “Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”Demand was so high that Jordan sneaker muggings and attacks became commonplace in many American cities. A killing over the trainer promoted Sports Illustratedexternal-link to run with a cover story title: “Your Sneakers or Your Life.”Jones himself experienced the violent side associated with demand for sneakers when in 2012 – at a New York release of the Nike Kobe 7 models – he was stabbedexternal-link while camping overnight outside the store in a queue. It’s an incident he chooses to no longer revisit in interviews.The Air Jordan 1s’ release was a seminal moment according to Simon ‘Woody’ Wood, founder of global trainer magazine Sneaker Freaker,external-link and not just because of the cultural hype.”One of the beautiful things about the shoe is the quality of the leather,” he says. “I have a pair of Jordans here from 1985. The leather is thick as anything. It feels like they just sliced a chunk of cow off and stitched it to the shoe. They’re pretty much indestructible.” Woody, based in the Australian city of Melbourne, is something of an expert on the subject. Having started the Sneaker Freaker magazine as a cult read and vehicle to get free sneakers from manufacturers in 2002, Woody’s business has since ballooned into a website, a merch business, a creative agency and a magazine that’s now sold in 40 countries. Most recently he authored a 700-page book called The Ultimate Sneaker; to which nearly forty pages were devoted to Jordans alone.”I mean really I could’ve filled the entire book on Jordans,” he says. “In terms of investment that might’ve been a smarter move right now! It’s the only brand really based on an athlete. And, he’s the Supreme Being, a god around which a whole mystique has been built.”The Americans love him as a winner, a guy who comes from nowhere and becomes the most famous and wealthy person ever. But physically to watch him jump from, you know, beyond the three point line and sink a basket, he was just so good. And the shoes really locked into that aspect of him.”The brightness of the star factor associated with the Air Jordan 1s has been key in helping them remain, in a galaxy of standout sneakers, the most coveted for those with money to spend. Especially for “cashed up guys in their 40s and 50s” who remember Jordan at his height, Woody believes.Another secret behind the mystique, he suggests, lies in the enduring appeal of their design features. There’s the ‘wings logo’ – inspired by airline badges of the time – the red, white and black colours that echoed Jordan’s Chicago Bulls affinity, and ‘classic panelling’ that help to build the sneaker’s ‘story’. A story that was given a new chapter in April this year when Dior teamed up with Nike to release a new, co-branded version of the model that retailed for $2,000 (£1,520) a pair.Featured on the cover of Sneaker Freaker, the shoe quickly sold out when a staggering five million people tried to buy the 8,500 pairs released. Online marketplace StockX shows the shoe drawing anything up to $20,000 on its real time price graphs that one would associate more readily with trading stocks.Covid-related economic volatility, it seems, is not a problem in the sneaker resale niche, where profits are not only increasing but markets are expanding.For Jones, his day to day may now be in Fort Lee, New Jersey – where his white-soled sneakers benefit from sidewalks that are “thankfully cleaner than in New York” – but his future profits will increasingly be drawn globally.Local knowledge used to be key in sourcing sneaker gems, as boutique stores and little-known outlets across New York City would sell their limited supplies to in-the-know hunters. Though he still refers to his hometown as the “world Mecca for sneakers”, the bulk of Jones’ purchases are made online via a network of other collectors, with sales increasing in hotspots like Asia. It has helped him amass over 1,100 pairs in total, and some of his favourites are in the black sports bag on the floor below.”This is a PlayStation Air Force 1 anniversary shoe, only 50 pairs in the world. Made in 2009 by Nike and worth around $10,000,” he says, matter of factly. “These are Stash Zoom Kobe 1s, made in collaboration with NORT in 2006, They’re worth about $20,000.”Designs associated with players like the tragic figure of Kobe Bryant help to drive prices higher, but ultimately it’s the discerning eye of the collector that sets the value: beauty being firmly in the eye of the buyer.It was an appreciation Jones’ wife, Adena, struggled to come to terms with when the couple first started dating. Admitting to suffering vertigo from sleeping under the great walls of boxed shoes that lined his apartment, she came to understand their value when her then boyfriend linked his Paypal account to hers. It allowed him to showcase the sale returns of his accumulating assets in real time.”I quickly realised their power. I saw $8,000 come in from two pairs and I was like: you’re right, this is it! I tell people part of our home is paid for by sneakers. This ring, my wedding ring, is paid for by sneakers,” she says, proudly holding forth her sparkling rock.As co-founder of Another Lane, a new online business run in partnership with Jones that targets aficionados priced out by the recent sneaker boom, Adena is now convinced of what her husband has known since childhood: sneakers are more than just shoes, they are prized symbols of identity. In fact, Jones goes as far to suggest they have political symbolism too.”Sneakers were originally white because that was the colour of the tennis-playing elites,” he says.”People who look like me traditionally served those people, that’s why wearing the colour white is so significant in the black community. Wearing clean, white sneakers means you can afford them and you’ve elevated yourself in society.”It’s a sentiment echoed by Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator of Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museumexternal-link and author of Out Of The Box: The Rise Of Sneaker Culture.”Having enough money to step out in a ‘fresh’, pristine and unscuffed, pair of Nikes became a point of pride, a symbol of rugged individualism whose fashion was hyper-masculine and easily marketed in ways that capitalised on both its American-ness and its exoticism simultaneously,” Semmelhack says.”Can sneakers be used in a political way? 100% yes. It’s why stepping on someone’s prize pair can be deeply offensive.”Semmelhack sees a through line from the nouveau riche, tennis-court origins of the mid-19th Century sneaker to rapper Jay-Z’s affirmation that he would only ever wear a pair of white trainers once to maintain his crisp aesthetic. It’s a notion Jones intrinsically understands.”It’s like, yo, that kid, he always got a fresh pair of sneakers on, I wonder what he does? It’s like there’s this mysteriousness, a question mark: what is this guy really about?” he says.Thirty-five years on, it seems hang time footwear has lost none of its potency.

New Zealand is in its deepest recession in decades, following strict measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic which were widely praised.The country’s GDP shrank by 12.2% between April and June as the lockdown and border closures hit. It is New Zealand’s first recession since the global financial crisis and its worst since 1987, when the current system of measurement began. But the government hopes its pandemic response will lead to a quick recovery.The nation of nearly five million was briefly declared virus free, and although it still has a handful of cases, it has only had 25 deaths. The economy is likely to be a key issue in next month’s election, which was delayed after an unexpected spike in Covid-19 cases in August. Stats NZ spokesman Paul Pascoe said the measures implemented since 19 March have had a huge impact of some sectors of the economy.”Industries like retail, accommodation and restaurants, and transport saw significant declines in production because they were most directly affected by the international travel ban and strict nationwide lockdown,” he said.How did New Zealand become Covid-19 free?
New Zealand: Jacinda Ardern delays election over coronavirus fears
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government has said the success in suppressing the virus is likely to help recovery prospects.Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the GDP numbers were better than expected, and suggested a strong recovery ahead. “Going hard and early means that we can come back faster and stronger,” he said.Some economists are also predicting a swift recovery, because of New Zealand’s strong response to the virus. “We expect the June quarter’s record-breaking GDP decline to be followed by a record-breaking rise in the September quarter,” said Westpac Senior Economist Michael Gordon.But Treasury forecasts released yesterday suggested massive debt and continuing disruptions are likely to delay a full recovery. The opposition National party accused the government of a lack of pragmatism that made the impact worse than it needed to be. New Zealand recorded a steeper drop than neighbouring Australia, where the lockdown was less severe.But the state of Victoria has faced a second lockdown, which is likely to weigh on Australia’s economic recovery.

For years Aminat Waheeda drove her taxi along the narrow lanes and congested roads of the Maldives capital looking for passengers. The most lucrative fares – airport arrivals – were out of reach. The airport serving Male is on a different island and a speedboat was needed to get between the two.In 2018, that all changed, as did Ms Waheeda’s life. And the single mother of two teenagers has China to thank. A 2.1km (1.3-mile), four-lane bridge built with $200m (£148m) from Beijing means Male’s taxi drivers can now pick up passengers right from the airport entrance.”After the bridge was built, transportation got easy for everyone,” she says. “[It] has helped taxi drivers like me to earn more money.” In fact, her income doubled.The bridge, the first built between any islands in the Maldivian archipelago, has also led to a boom in new property and commercial developments on the island of Hulumale where the airport is located, easing congestion in the capital for its 140,000 residents. Chinese infrastructure projects in developing countries have been criticised, but the Sinamale bridge – or the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge as it’s also known – could be seen as a real success. However the current Maldives government doesn’t see it that way. It is alarmed by how much money this tiny, tourism-dependent nation now owes China.The bridge was one of several major projects built under Abdullah Yameen, a pro-China president elected in 2013. He wanted to kickstart the economy and borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from China to do so.At the time Chinese President Xi Jinping was embarking on his grand “Belt and Road Initiative” to build road, rail and sea links between China and the rest of Asia, and far further beyond. Mr Yameen’s tenure was also marked by allegations of human rights abuses, which he denies. Many opposition politicians, including the former president Mohamed Nasheed, were jailed. But in September 2018, weeks after the bridge opened, Mr Yameen suffered a surprise election defeat to his rivals, the Maldivian Democratic Party, with the MDP’s Ibrahim Solih becoming president.The change of guard also enabled Mr Nasheed to return and re-enter politics. The new government soon began looking into the nation’s finances. What they found shocked them.”The [Chinese debt] bill was $3.1bn,” Mr Nasheed, now Speaker of parliament, told me. The figure included government-to-government loans, money given to state enterprises and private sector loans guaranteed by the Maldivian government.He is worried his country walked into a debt trap.”Can these assets produce enough revenue to pay back the debt? The business plan of none of these projects has any indication to suggest that it will be able to pay back the loan.”He argues the cost of projects was inflated and the debt on paper is far greater than the money actually received – which he says was only $1.1bn, although he hasn’t released documents to back up his sums.Former Maldivian officials and Chinese representatives point out his lack of detailed accounting. They put the figure Male owes China between $1.1bn and $1.4bn – still a huge sum for the islands. The Maldives GDP is around $4.9bn and if you go by Mr Nasheed’s figures, then the debt is more than a half of the country’s annual economic output. If government revenues fall it may struggle to repay the loan by 2022-23.If the Maldives defaults, Mr Nasheed worries his country could face the same fate as nearby Sri Lanka – it owes billions of dollars to China after borrowing to rebuild after years of civil war. Among the projects, the Sri Lankan government spent nearly $1.5bn on building a port in Hambantota. But within a few years the port proved to be economically unviable and Colombo defaulted on its loan commitment.’We don’t like our land being given away to China’
Sri Lanka clashes over Chinese investment
After the debt was restructured, a Chinese state-run enterprise acquired a 70% stake in the port on a 99-year lease in 2017. In addition, Sri Lanka also agreed to give 15,000 acres around the port to China to build an economic zone.For China, the port is a valuable strategic asset overlooking one of the busiest shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean. The port is also a few hundred kilometres off the southern coast of China’s rival, India.Last year US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hit out at China for what he described as “corrupt infrastructure deals in exchange for political influence” and using “bribe-fuelled debt-trap diplomacy”. Beijing rejected his comments as “irresponsible”.In a rare BBC interview, the Chinese ambassador in Male, Zhang Lizhong, also dismissed the allegations that the Maldives were facing a debt trap as “a fiction”.”China never imposes additional requirements to the Maldivian side or any other developing country, which they do not want to accept or against their will.”Mr Zhang says Mr Nasheed’s figure of $3bn debt is “highly exaggerated”.The Maldives is famous as a picture-perfect tourist destination – but the archipelago is also strategically located, with islands dotted across the northern Indian Ocean. Tens of thousands of oil tankers and ships criss-cross the route.India and China have been vying for influence in the region for years.Some argue that some of the big-ticket infrastructure projects, like the expansion of the airport built with Chinese loans during Mr Yameen’s time in power, have helped to boost tourist arrivals in the Maldives. They point out that it was difficult to get the money for the projects from other international players.”I think at that time there was not any other option,” says Ali Hashim, the governor of the Maldivian Monetary Authority, the islands’ central bank which regulates its financial sector. He points out “other countries in the region as well as faraway [countries] were quite reluctant to lend to the government because the institutions that controlled the whole process were being slowly compromised”.The projects have boosted tourist arrivals in the country – last year they reached a record 1.7 million, earning more than $2bn.One of the main reasons behind growing tourism, is that successive Maldivian governments have encouraged investments in new islands. Rules on foreign investments were relaxed to build more resorts and hotels. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured in from Indian, Thai and Chinese investors.Mr Nasheed says he’s concerned about Chinese investments in several islands where resorts and hotels are being built which have both Maldivian and Chinese partners.”It is very easy to see these Maldivian partners don’t have necessary finance to be able to be a partner in such a venture, So, the Chinese partners would buy it out in no time. I can see the islands going to them very quickly,” Mr Nasheed says.But Ambassador Zhang dismisses this, arguing the investments are purely commercial.”Mr Speaker may not get the right information,” he says. “We do not attach any pre-condition for the loans. It doesn’t happen and will not happen.”Former president Abdullah Yameen’s People’s National Congress is also scathing about Mr Nasheed’s allegations, calling them “baseless fear-mongering”.”Not a single island was given to the Chinese,” party vice president Mohammad Hussain Shareef says.Late last year Mr Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of money laundering. His party described it as a political vendetta.China unveils $124bn global trade plan
Sri Lanka leader on China visit
The fears over debt are not restricted to the Maldives. Other countries in Asia have also been reviewing mega projects funded under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Last year, after a change of government, Malaysia renegotiated a Chinese-funded railway project, bringing the cost down by a third to $11bn. In 2018, Myanmar reviewed a Chinese-funded multi-billion dollar deep-sea port project and scaled it down to three-quarters of the original cost, fearing the loan would be unrepayable.The Maldives is not Malaysia or Myanmar and its bargaining power is limited.
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It’s heavily reliant on tourism, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. Foreign tourist arrivals were down 55% by the end of June. Estimates suggest the country may lose more than $700m, more than a third of its tourism income, this year if the pandemic persists.Officials in Male say Beijing has agreed to partially suspend debt repayments because of the pandemic.But even so, it’s unchartered financial territory for the Maldives which must hope its borrowing has not mortgaged its future.

As coronavirus devastates the travel industry, whalers in Norway are reaping the rewards of a national staycation.”For me whale meat is my childhood, my memories,” says Frode Revke, as he sorts through a pile of white Norwegian cheese.”Even my mother’s spaghetti bolognese was whale meat. The first time I went to Italy I was so disappointed, it tasted of nothing!”Frode runs Ost & Sant, a deli selling traditional food in the heart of Oslo. In an average year the place is heaving with foreign visitors. But 2020 has been a little different.”This year it’s been Norwegians who’ve come around,” he says. “People who can’t travel or go to restaurants are staying home to cook, and that’s changing what we sell.”And what’s selling is whale meat.For the first time in years the industry is seeing a spike in demand. This summer, Norwegians who would usually have travelled to Italy and Spain have instead headed north to places in Norway like the Lofoten Islands.There you’ll find sparkling fjords, jagged coastlines, and endless days of midnight sun. As well as a traditional type of food that’s illegal in most countries around the world.By the mid-20th Century many species of whale had been driven close to extinction. And since the International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced a ban in 1986, only Norway, Iceland and Japan have continued the hunt on a large scale.Aboriginal communities in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia also catch small numbers of whales, as does the Caribbean nation of St Vincent the Grenadines.Norway cites cultural reasons for flouting the 1986 ban, and maintains that – despite its reputation – whaling is a sustainable industry. In the words of Alessandro Astroza, a senior adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, the issue has become “emotional”.He questions why whale meat is vilified above other sources of protein. After all, minke whales, the main species that Norway catches, are free range and not endangered, and the whaling industry produces none of the methane that the beef industry does.But what does whale meat taste like? It is certainly distinctive. It’s traditionally served fresh or smoked, and many Norwegians use the same word to describe it – “tran”.There’s no direct translation into English, but the closest you can get is “that cod liver oil taste”. Combine that with a beef-like consistency, and an incredibly salty hit, and you’ve got whale.If you don’t think that sounds particularly appetising, you’re not alone. Demand for the meat has been falling in Norway for years, and in 2019 the country saw its lowest annual catch in 20 years. A total of 429 minkes were killed, out of the more than 100,000 that live in the Norwegian and Barents seas.This year, that number has jumped, with almost 500 killed. According to local whalers, demand has outstripped supply for the first time in half a decade. But why has demand risen? Oyvind Haram, from the Norwegian Seafood Federation, says it is more than just the impact of coronavirus.Instead he says that a campaign to make whale meat more attractive to foodies is paying off.”To get attention you have to start early,” he says. “[Such as] working on social media in January, months before the whale season starts.”For Oyvind whale is a distinctly local product that boasts low food miles, health benefits, and a sustainable and seasonable quota. He’s spearheading a strategy that pushes this eco-friendly message to younger consumers along with fresh whale recipes.Oyvind has also begun working with prominent Norwegian chefs.Jonathan Romano is a former sushi chef who presents the Norwegian version of MasterChef. Growing up in a Filipino household, he didn’t eat whale meat as a child, and saw it as a relic of a bygone era. After meeting Oyvind at a whale food showcase his views changed.”The problem is you’ve traditionally eaten whale as part of a stew with heavy, creamy gravy,” says Mr Romano. “The meat gets really tough with a strong metallic taste. Instead, you should eat it perfectly fried, seared with a raw middle point.” He believes more chefs are likely to use it in the coming years.Like many traditional industries, whaling relies on family ties – sons who follow their fathers onto the high seas. But dynasties don’t last forever. In recent times recruitment has been non-existent, despite the possibility of earning 1.6 million krone (£140,000; $180,000) a year.Global TradeMore from the BBC’s series taking an international perspective on trade:To encourage more people to go into whaling, the government has cut red tape around the industry. In what is a notoriously dangerous way to earn a living, it’s now easier than ever to launch your own boat. This comes as the global fall in the price of oil this year has made it much harder to find work on Norway’s offshore rigs. The country has built its wealth on its vast crude reserves, but the oil industry has been badly affected.So could 2020 signify the start of a long-term revival for Norway’s whaling sector? It is tough to say.Siri Martinsen, from the anti-whaling animal welfare group Noah, says younger consumers won’t start eating whale meat.She points to a study that suggests only 4% of Norwegians eat whale on a regular basis, and thinks this is unlikely to change.But Ole Myklebust says 2020 has been different. His company supplies more than 20% of the nation’s whale meat, and operates Norway’s only export route to Japan.At the Myklebust factory on the remote island of Haroya, 100kg steaks are wheeled in on crates.Knives the size of hockey sticks lean against the wall, and scraps of whale meat are turned into food for hungry sled dogs. Nothing is wasted.He says he is selling more to Norway’s largest supermarket chain, and expects bigger contracts in 2021. Back in Oslo, Frode Revke muses on the change in a deli frequented by hip young Norwegians.”I’m selling cured whale tenderloin and warm smoked whale for making carpaccio,” he says. “But the whale sausage is the most popular.”When I started selling it I thought, ‘this is just a fun thing, a curiosity.’ But within a few months it’s became the most popular product in the whole shop.”

Tens of thousands of young people are effectively being locked out of savings accounts they should gain access to as they turn 18.People like James, who has around £7,000 in his savings account.There is no mechanism in place to allow parents of children with mental disabilities to access Child Trust Funds as they start to pay out. So after his 18th birthday in June, James’ money will just stay where it is.The first government-backed Child Trust Funds, which were set up 18 years ago, began to pay out this month.At the time, no mechanism was put in place for parents with children who had mental disabilities to access the money if their child was unable to.Due to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 – designed to protect people who can’t make decisions for themselves – that only leaves court action, which is a slow and expensive process, often costing more than the fund is worth. Anne’s son James has around £7,000 in his fund thanks to family and friends investing. He’s one of approximately 6.3m people who should benefit.But because James has severe learning disabilities, is non-verbal and on the autistic spectrum, he does not have the mental capacity to make financial decisions.”A very large exit fee””I contacted the company managing his trust fund and asked them what I should do. They advised me to get power of attorney, but James can’t give that,” said Anne.”The only option I was given was to approach the court of protection to become a financial deputy.”The court fees are almost £400 if you do it yourself but obviously if you use a lawyer it’s much more expensive.”I just felt that was a very large exit fee to pay to access his money.”What is a Child Trust Fund?Children born from September 2002 were given vouchers by the then Labour government to invest for the future, with the money only accessible at the age of 18.The savings pots could now be worth £1,000, or more if parents added contributions.The government initially put £250 into the tax-free account during a child’s first year, then added another £250 when he or she reached the age of seven.For lower-income families, the payment was £500.All disabled children receiving Disability Living Allowance will have received an extra payment of £100 or £200 in 2010/11 before the scheme was scrapped. Parents, family and friends could also contribute to the account, up to set limits.The scheme was watered down, then scrapped entirely by the coalition government.It’s estimated around 180,000 teenagers like James won’t be able to access the money in their Child Trust Funds themselves.But Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft, shadow minister for disabled people, is worried the problem may extend to other schemes, such as the Junior ISA programme.”The government really needs to get civil servants to look into this.”This carries on into Junior ISAs in the future so they really do need to get to resolving this as soon as possible”, she said. Responding to the fact it was a Labour government which set up the original scheme, she said: “I think this wasn’t something that we foresaw at the time. It’s something that’s been raised quite a bit since 2017 so I think it’s up to the current government to find solutions to this.””Incredibly upsetting”It’s a similar story for Mikey and his parents, Andrew and Jenny Turner.”We opened a trust fund back in 2005 but sadly, in 2011, we got a diagnosis that Mikey has a neuro-degenerative condition… so he’s now severely disabled.”The money we invested should be something he can benefit from.”He’d like to buy a new bike with that money but [for Mikey] they are specialist pieces of equipment.”We only found out quite recently – in order to access his savings on his behalf, we’d have to go to the court of protection.”But the amount of money in his account is quite modest so it would cost more than what he has in his savings account. So for us it’s a complete non-starter.”The only way we can access that money for free is when Mikey dies, and we find that incredibly upsetting.”It was very difficult to get a response from the government on this subject.HMRC referred Money Box to the Ministry of Justice, as did the Treasury.The Ministry of Justice just referred us to the present scheme saying it is “vital to ensure vulnerable are not exploited.”In Scotland the matter is dealt with by the Office of the Public Guardian.

By Cristina CriddleTechnology reporterRelated TopicsCoronavirus pandemicimage copyrightGetty ImagesThere has been a surge in reports of so-called revenge porn this year, with campaigners saying the problem has been exacerbated by lockdown.Around 2,050 reports were made to a government-funded helpline, a 22% rise from last year.As cases have remained high despite coronavirus restrictions easing, those that run the service fear this is “the new normal.”Sharing porn without consent is illegal in England, Scotland and Wales.Recent research by domestic violence charity Refuge found that one in seven young women has received threats that intimate photos will be shared without their consent.Coronavirus: Domestic abuse rise in lockdown•Revenge porn victim Chrissy Chambers says law ‘needs strengthening’There have been more cases of revenge porn reported to a dedicated UK helpline so far this year than in all of 2019.Around two-thirds of cases reported to the helpline involve women.Helpline manager Sophie Mortimer said the sustained rise is evidence of behaviour triggered by the lockdown, and greater awareness of the crime and support.The helpline is run by the charity South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL), part of the UK Safer Internet Centre.The charity has helped remove 22,515 images this year – 94% of those reported by victims.And cases surged in August.’The new normal’David Wright, director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said: “The lockdown produced an extreme set of circumstances which are bringing a lot of problems.”What we are seeing here, however, suggests something more long-term has happened which could mean we will be busier than ever before. It’s worrying to think this could be the new normal.”Research by domestic violence charity Women’s Aid found that more than 60% of survivors living with their abuser reported that the abuse they experienced got worse during the pandemic.And revenge porn is a common form of abuse, according to Lucy Hadley, campaign and policy manager at Women’s Aid.”Disclosing private sexual images – or threatening to do so – is a common form of abuse, and is particularly harming young women.””Image based forms of abuse – such as so-called revenge porn – must be taken just as seriously as abuse in ‘real life’,” she added.A victim’s viewFolami Prehaye became a victim of revenge porn when her former partner posted explicit pictures of her online.He was given a six-month suspended sentence for harassment and distributing indecent images.Miss Prehaye founded the website Victims of Internet Crime: Speak Out! to provide ongoing emotional support for victims of these kinds of offences.She said: “There is no wonder that there has been an increase of cases during lockdown as more and more people have been forced to build relationships online.”The problem has always been there, its just that lockdown made it more apparent, and an easier place for predatory sexual exploitation.”If you, or someone you know, have been affected by domestic abuse or violence, the following organisations may be able to help.Related TopicsMore on this story