Savings windfall
An estimated six million employees across Britain have become “accidental savers” during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests. Researchers at financial consultancy LPC said those with extra cash windfalls now had an opportunity to put their finances on a firmer footing.
While many household incomes have been hit hard by the pandemic, some people have seen an unexpected boost due to lower outgoings such as travel costs.
Fans will be able to hear the late William Mcilvanney read from his most famous novel as part of an online book club.
The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival is launching online for fans during lockdown.
Mcilvanney died in 2015, but he recorded a reading of his classic novel, Laidlaw, first published in 1977.
Festival director Bob Mcdevitt said: “Mcilvanney actually read the audiobook himself and Canongate have very kindly given us the first five minutes.”
I’d invite the poet WH Auden. His conversation would be brilliant, if on form. I’d also have at the table John F Kennedy, right. During the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 he was instrumental in averting World War Three. He saved the world. I’d like to thank him. Luciano Pavarotti would also be my guest, I’d ask him to sing for his supper. And finally, Barbara Pym, the novelist who published a series of social comedies. She would be so witty in an understated way.