Bank Holiday Blues

Today's sponsor

...and just like that, the Spring Bank Holiday is done. Both the RAC and the AA expected more than 20 million leisure journeys would be made over the weekend, making it the busiest May for our roads since before the pandemic. Unfortunately, Mother Nature was at work over the Bank Holiday, and battering half of the country with thunderstorms was on her to-do list.

Rishi Sunak braved the rain to announce that the country is heading towards a general election on July 4th, inadvertently to the sound of D:Ream’s 1993 anthem, “Things Can Only Get Better”, blasting from the Downing Street gate protesters. The Labour Party can now dream of their very own 4th of July liberation celebrations. Who else is excited to see more dogs at polling station posts?

👀 P.S. Peep our very first sponsor! The folks at Keith Prowse feature in this issue - be sure to click and view their experiences. For every subscriber who visits their page, a contribution is made to The Teapot to help keep these weekly updates coming!

MARKETS

Data: Google Finance, 7-day Market Close

🚀 M&S bucks the FTSE100 trend, +8.1% from last week!

PROJECT WATCH

🔋 The first 520-tonne steam generator arrives at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, set to power the world's largest turbines for at least 60 years. Read more

🌉 HS2 Ltd announces the halfway completion of the 880-metre Thame Valley Viaduct, with a design aimed at reducing carbon footprint by a third. Read more 

🏟️ Sisk & Sons secures the £300m contract for Manchester City's Etihad Stadium expansion, adding 7,700 seats, a sky bar, hotel, and more (FA Cup trophy excluded). Read more 

🗺️ GeoXYZ to begin underwater surveys for the fourth Eastern Green Link project, aiding in the development of critical submarine interconnectors. Read more 

ECONOMY & FINANCE

So Much for House Prices Slowing Down
Asking prices for UK homes hit a record high of £375k in May, demonstrating the spring market is hotter than a builder’s tea. Rightmove reports that property prices across the country rose by 0.8%, or £2,807, month-on-month. This marks the fifth consecutive month of price rises, yet it only nudges average asking prices up by 0.6% compared to last year.

Pent-up demand from buyers reluctant last year has ignited activity, despite the process of selling a house now taking an average of seven months. All this with the Bank of England clinging to its 5.25% interest rate since last August - sales have still surged 17% in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

Will Rishi’s Rainy Election Dampen Your Wallet?
Wondering what a win for either Labour or the Conservatives will mean for your finances? Here's Yahoo’s rundown of what you can expect amid the election frenzy, focusing on Pensions, Savings, Mortgages, Tax, Housing and Investments.

RyanAir's Profit Soars Despite Boeing Delivery Hiccups
Ryanair’s annual profit soared by more than a third, despite the disruptions in Boeing aircraft deliveries. The low-cost Irish airline reported a whopping 34% rise in post-tax profits to €1.92bn (£1.64bn) for the year ending March - boosted by the fact that your bag was an inch too big for a carry-on.

Today’s Sponsor

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ACROSS THE POND

Trump’s Texas Fundraising Triumph
Donald Trump has been on a Texas fundraising tour, turning oil and gas promises into a gusher of cash. In Houston, he hobnobbed with oil billionaires like Jeff Hildebrand and George Bishop, vowing to build more natural gas pipelines and revive fracking on federal land, earning him standing ovations and probably a few pats on the back.

Despite President Biden’s attempts to regulate the oil and gas industry, it's still been rolling in dough with record profits. But they’re not thrilled about Biden’s fracking ban on federal lands and the recent halt on new gas export facility approvals. Enter Trump, promising to "get energy going again," which had oil executives like Dan Eberhart practically doing cartwheels in their fancy suits.

Ivan Boesky, The Man Behind Gordon Gekko
Ivan Boesky, the high-flying financier who inspired Michael Douglas's infamous Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street," has passed away at 87. Back in the 1980s, Boesky was a keystone in the insider trading scandals that rocked Wall Street, making his fortunes from takeover stock speculations. His peak wealth was an eye-watering $280m (£220m), thanks to a steady stream of tips from investment bankers

When his world came crashing down, Boesky didn’t just take the fall—he made a dramatic play for leniency. Teaming up with a young and ambitious Rudy Giuliani, Boesky went undercover, James Bond style, to record conversations with the notorious "junk bond king," Michael Milken. The result? Milken got hit with six felony convictions and served 22 months in prison, while Boesky himself got a $100 million fine and 20 months in a cushy "Club Fed" facility.

Louisiana's Controversial Abortion Pill Law: A New Era
Louisiana has become the first US state to classify abortion pills as controlled substances. Governor Jeff Landry signed the bill into law, positioning Louisiana at the centre of the national debate on reproductive rights. The new law reclassifies mifepristone and misoprostol, medications long approved by the FDA for terminating pregnancies. Under the new law, doctors need a special licence to prescribe these drugs, and all prescriptions are logged in a state database accessible to law enforcement.

TECH

As we were picnic-prepping, you might have missed some alarming tech developments that make the rainy Monday seem palatable. Firstly, China has unleashed a pack of machine gun-wielding robot dogs (above) as part of their Golden Dragon drill. These robo-mutts didn't fire a single shot, but they did manage to make Black Mirror look like a quaint BBC period drama.

Meanwhile, in the good ol' US of A, they've also started flirting with their own armed robot dogs. Makes you wonder if robot hamsters with nunchucks are next.

On the other side of the tech spectrum, AI czar Elon Musk, after raising $6bn, is building an AI supercomputer fleet aimed at world AI domination—I mean, "understanding the true nature of the universe". His plans for xAI and its cheeky "anti-woke" chatbot, Grok, seem to mirror his audacious Twitter revamp, now rebranded as X.

Google's AI, not to be upstaged, has its own comedy of errors, suggesting glue for pizza and a rock-a-day for geologists. These blunders, while hilarious, highlight the tech's fallibility—something Scarlett Johansson can attest to after OpenAI's “uncanny” imitation of her voice led to legal jousting and industry-wide cringe moments.

In a more sombre yet remarkable realm of AI, tech is stepping into the afterlife, or rather, making posthumous conversations a reality. From James Vlahos's HereafterAI, which turns your late Gran into a chatbot, to South Korea's DeepBrain AI cloning loved ones with unsettling accuracy—technology is redefining grieving. Even in an AI-driven world, common sense and human touch remain irreplaceable (for now).

POLITICS

Oh, Rishi! As if Sunak’s campaign wasn’t sinking fast enough, he’s launched a controversial National Service proposal to try and plug the leaks, dragging us back to the days of conscription - while the proposal does centre around roles in logistics and cyber-defence, it sounds like a tough sell on the polls.

Parliament, in a last-minute frenzy before the election, passed some notable laws while letting others die on the vine. The Leasehold and Freehold Bill aims to simplify and cheapen lease extensions and freehold purchases, but a cap on ground rents remains elusive.

Meanwhile, sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted in the Horizon scandal can finally breathe easy as their convictions are quashed and compensation is on the cards, thanks to the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill.

Consumer rights took a step forward with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, which tackles fake reviews and bans “drip pricing” in online shopping. And in a nod to national pride, pub closing times get a stretchy makeover for the Euros, allowing fans to enjoy celebratory drinks if England or Scotland make it to the final straits.

On the flip side, some high-profile bills didn't make the cut. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, aimed at creating a smoke-free generation, was snuffed out amid debates on personal choice.

The Renters (Reform) Bill, promising to ban no-fault evictions, remains in legislative limbo, while the Football Governance Bill, which proposed an independent regulator for club finances, was benched.

So, while some plans went up in strawberry smoke, others managed to drip through, leaving us with a mixed bag of legislative changes as we head into election season.

WORLD

Espionage enthusiasts are having a field day lately, with German Army officer Thomas H landing himself a nearly four-year stint for flirting with Russian intelligence. His hare-brained scheme of snapping military tech pics and posting them to Bonn’s Russian love letterbox was his “biggest mess” yet.

Speaking of shaky alliances, NATO has decided to up the drama with a "drone wall" along the Russian border, countries like Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Norway, and friends—basically adding a sci-fi twist to the world’s longest passive-aggressive fence.

Meanwhile, in Asia, China’s Premier Li Qiang hosted a tea party with Japan and South Korea, heralding a "new beginning". No major beef settled, but at least they’re sharing potpourri and nodding about trade. China’s juggling this with their fiery anti-dumping probe against US and EU polyoxymethylene copolymer imports (did you say it right the first time?).

And finally, let’s raise a mug for the OG meme-dog, Kabosu the Shiba Inu, who passed away at age 18 in Sakura, Japan. From meme superstardom to a Dogecoin revolution, she’s left pawprints on the digital world. Even Elon Musk paid homage, swapping Twitter’s bird for Kabosu’s face.

Cuppa Chat Cheat Sheet:

 📺💔 TV broadcasters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, married since 2010, have announced their divorce. They are known for presenting ITV's "This Morning" together until 2021.

👒🎩 "Bridgerton" season 3 has made significant changes from the books, focusing on Colin and Penelope's romance. Fans are speculating that Benedict Bridgerton's love story might be the focus of season 4.

⚽️📉 Southampton beat Leeds 1-0 in the Championship play-off final, securing a return to the Premier League with a goal by Adam Armstrong. Leeds missed key chances, continuing their Wembley woes.

🏌️‍♂️⛳️ Sixteen-year-old English golfer Kris Kim, son of former LPGA player Suh Ji-hyun, will debut on the DP World Tour at the British Masters in August. Kim recently made headlines as the youngest to make the cut on the PGA Tour since 2015.

🎤🚔 Nicki Minaj's Manchester concert was postponed after Dutch police detained her for drug possession at Amsterdam airport. She was fined and released, causing the delay. The concert will be rescheduled, and tickets will be honoured.

🌍🔭 Scientists have discovered a new Earth-like planet, Gliese 12b, just 40 light-years away. Slightly smaller and hotter than Earth, it orbits a red dwarf star. Researchers are excited about its potential to support life and plan further investigations using the James Webb Space Telescope.

🏁🏎️ Charles Leclerc finally wins his home Grand Prix in Monaco after a massive crash on the first lap involving Sergio Perez. Despite pressure from Oscar Piastri, Leclerc dominated the race, ending a long-standing curse at his home track.

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