Paul McNamara , Reporter

A year of pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on the British economy. Unemployment has jumped by almost 700,000 and trillions of pounds have been knocked off the country’s output as companies struggle to survive.

The size of the army is to be reduced by thousands of troops over the next four years, as part of what the government is calling the most significant defence review since the end of the cold war.

Britain’s armed forces are about to undergo the most sweeping modernisation for two decades, with a new command paper next week setting out the details.

Now, what’s your most closely guarded secret? A small stationery shop in London has been sending out blank postcards to anyone who asks for one.  The condition: you send it back – anonymously – with a lockdown secret.  Paul McNamara has been to find out more.

Sharon White said the lockdown combined with the long term shift towards online shopping has brought ten years of change in just 12 months.

Will we even be buying the same things from the same businesses as we did before the lockdowns?

The Brexiteers always boasted that leaving the European Union would result in a bonfire of red tape. But what’s the reality since we left the transition phase almost two months ago?

Facebook has reversed its ban on news in Australia.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Uber drivers must be treated as workers, and not self-employed contractors – in a ruling which could have major implications for the gig economy.

Bosses at Heathrow airport have warned that the government’s hotel quarantine policy is not ready.

We caught up with the Chancellor Rishi Sunak and asked him whether he shared the optimism of people like Andy Haldane of the Bank of England.

The Bank of England’s chief economist believes the economy is a “coiled spring” ready to bounce back.

In another example of post-Brexit trade problems, many UK fishermen are now struggling to export their catch to the EU. New rules around water quality mean they can’t export live molluscs like oysters and clams to Europe – leaving those who rely on the trade facing the loss of their livelihoods. Crab and lobster fishermen…

Almost two thirds of UK firms have been experiencing “significant disruption” to their supply chains across the EU border since the start of this year, according to the manufacturers’ association, Make UK.

Shares in the US retailer GameStop have jumped in value again as small investors continued their attack on major corporate investors.