UK budget, Juukan Gorge, Egyptian pet cemetery

UK chancellor Rishi Sunak and the red box.
UK chancellor Rishi Sunak and the red box.
Image: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Hereā€™s what you need to know

Rishi Sunak presents the UKā€™s Covid-Brexit budget. This yearā€™s plan must contend with the financial toll of both seismic events. Read more below.

Rio Tintoā€™s chairman stepped down. Simon Thompson will become the latest executive to leave the Australian mining giant due to a backlash over the destruction of ancient Aboriginal caves in Jukaan Gorge.

The US will soon have enough vaccines for all its peopleā€¦ Johnson & Johnson aims to deliver 94 million doses of its one-shot vaccine by late May, with help from rival Merck, while Pfizer and Moderna each plan to supply 200 million doses by then.

ā€¦ and the Covax rollout is also ramping up. The global program to make vaccine distribution more equitable has delivered 11 million doses so far, beginning with Ghana. The aim is 270 million doses before June.

India wants Tesla to manufacture its cars in the country. The transport minister said India is prepared to offer incentives that would make it cheaper than producing vehicles in China.

Corporations are ignoring Texasā€™s mask rollback. Though the state is lifting its mask mandate, firms including GM, Toyota, and Target will still require staff and customers to mask up.


What to watch for

The famous red box, which has carried the British chancellorā€™s annual budget speech since 1853, today contains details of the UKā€™s most important economic plans for a generation. (Itā€™s not William Gladstoneā€™s original boxā€”a replica has been used since 2011.)

The UK heads into a fiscal period that will be defined by the dual economic shocks of Brexit and Covid-19. The government believes it has a solid plan to emerge from the expensive cycle of lockdowns, and has put together one of the most successful vaccination programs in the world.

šŸ’ø Will the UK government keep spending? Yes, and it wonā€™t be alone.

šŸ“ˆ Will there be tax hikes? Very likely, but this is a Conservative government, and thereā€™s already internal dissent.

šŸ’· How much has Covid cost the UK? Nearly Ā£400 billion ($550 billion)ā€”the budget may have to somehow account for that.

The coronavirus living briefing helps you keep track of all major pandemic-related economic developments, from European economies to retail, China, and airlines.


Charting AstraZenecaā€™s vaccine in the EU

A chart showing the proportions of vaccines by manufacturer that have been given in Estonia, Finland, France, and Germany.

For all the talk of Covid-19 vaccine supply issues in the European Union, official data show that close to 13 million doses distributed to member states have not even been administered. Most of those are from AstraZeneca, with many Europeans apparently unwilling to accept that particular jab.

The chart above doesnā€™t quite tell the full story, notes Annabelle Timsit, but it does make it clear that EU countries have administered a lower share of their available AstraZeneca doses. That may be because of public mistrust, but it also shows the pitfalls of ā€œvaccine preference,ā€ a problem that is becoming global.


What will canceling $10,000 of student loan debt really do?

On the campaign trail, US president Joe Biden pledged to clear $10,000 of federal student loan debt per borrowerā€”a small dent in the more than $1.5 trillion of student loans issued or guaranteed by the government.

  • It could help individuals. Forgiving $10,000 in debt would completely wipe out the student loan burden for one-third of Americaā€™s 43 million federal borrowers. But mostly, it would benefit the rich.
  • It could shrink the race gap. A little, anyway. Disparities in home ownership and property values are bigger factors in the wealth gap than education is.
  • Could it help the economy? Meh. Itā€™s not the most effective way to get cash to households who will turn it around and put it into the economy.

Michelle Cheng sorts through the pros and cons, and asks how Americans got into so much student debt in the first place.

āœ¦ If canceling student debt wonā€™t fix capitalism, what will? We obsess over this very question. Read all our fixing capitalism coverageā€”and everything else on our siteā€”with no paywalls for a week.

Surprising discoveries

Oh, the places these books wonā€™t go! Dr. Seuss Enterprises said six of the authorā€™s books will no longer be published due to racist or insensitive content.

A dental X-ray scanner helped researchers read a 300-year-old sealed letter. The intricately folded missive was a request for a death certificate.

Archaeologists found a 2,000-year-old Egyptian pet cemetery. And Stephen King found the plot of his next book.

Microdosing LSD isnā€™t the mind hack Silicon Valley thinks it is. Its purported boost to creativity and mental sharpness could just be the placebo effect.

Canada Post wants to make sure you stay in touch. The postal service is giving every Canadian a prepaid postcard to send to a loved one.



Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Canadian postcards, and microdoses, just in case, to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Todayā€™s Daily Brief was brought to you by Tripti Lahiri, Mary Hui, Susan Howson, Hasit Shah, and Liz Webber.