Touchdown on Mars

The 1-minute read to get the money news you need.

Perseverance pays off

Nasa’s Mars rover has landed safely after a perilous 7-minute descent through the red planet’s atmosphere. It’s apparently in “great shape” and is already beaming back images of the surface. It’ll spend the next 2 years looking for evidence of alien life.

Retail sales slump

Retail sales fell by 8.5% in January according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It’s a far bigger fall than the 2.5% that economists predicted. Non-essential shops were closed for most of the month under the latest lockdown, so shoppers had to go online.

January borrowing

The ONS also says that the government borrowed £8.8 billion in January - less than many expected. January is normally payday for the public purse, when many businesses pay their tax bills. But this year is different. Total government borrowing is expected to hit £393 billion for this tax year - the highest since the Second World War.

More inventions please

We’re getting a new science agency called Aria which will power advances to follow the internet and GPS, which came out of similar agencies in the US. Aria will get £800 million government money to fund 4 years of high-risk, high-reward research. That sounds like a lot - but it’s a fraction of the £10 billion total allocated for research this year.

No flight refunds?

More than 2 million people won’t get their money back from unused plane tickets, according to Which?. Most of them couldn't board their flights because of coronavirus restrictions. The consumer group recommends checking the cancellation policy before booking anything.