Everest Man ⛰️

Happy Monday. Kami Rita is Everest Man. He’s a Nepali Sherpa who broke his own record last week by climbing Mount Everest for the 31st time—the most anyone’s ever done it.

This week, I will be completing my billionth vlookup formula on Microsoft Excel, all in order to create value for my shareholders. Congratulations to Kami, and good luck to me.

MARKETS

Data: Google Finance, 5-day Market Close

Notable UK earnings this week: Wise Plc (WISE), Mitie Group (MTO), First Group (FGP), B&M (BME), Chemring Group (CHG).

Notable US earnings this week: Broadcom (AVGO), Crowdstrike (CRWD), Dollar General (DG), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Lululemon (LULU).

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PROJECT WATCH

🤖 Plans submitted for £7.5bn AI data centre in Lincolnshire. Read more

🌊 Noble wins BP offshore drilling work for North Sea carbon storage project. Read more

🔌 A-2-Sea Solutions awarded route survey work for subsea electricity cable between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Read more

🏗️ Hutchinson to construct Inyanga’s Welsh tidal energy structure for Anglesey project. Read more

ECONOMY & FINANCE

Steel or no steel?
Just when the UK steel industry thought it could breathe – well, wheeze – a little easier post-Brexit and shaky post-Covid recovery, the Trump Tariff Tornado is back. Doubling the US import tax on steel from 25% to 50%, President Donald Trump has lobbed yet another "America First" spanner into British manufacturing’s already clunky works.

The timing’s grim: just weeks after the UK government triumphantly announced a deal to scrap the existing tariffs – a deal that, it turns out, hasn’t been fully nailed down. So, while Number 10 was dusting off the bunting, steel shipments already en route to the US are now floating in a cloud of tax uncertainty—somewhere between Liverpool and Louisiana.

Gareth Stace, UK Steel’s director general – and unofficial therapist of the nation’s steelmakers – summed it up neatly: “a body blow.” He warned that some US orders could be scrapped entirely, even as the container ships crawl into port.

Meanwhile, ministers are trying to cool things down in Paris where Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds expected to meet (and maybe share some cheese and wine) with US counterpart Jamieson Greer at an OECD meeting. His mission? Persuading the Americans that buying British steel without extra fees is, shockingly, good business. Especially when that steel props up complex things like nuclear submarines.

If you like it, put a slightly improved growth forecast on it
The International Monetary Fund has nudged its UK growth forecast up like a weary teacher handing out a C+ to a pupil who finally turned in their homework. Growth is now pencilled in at 1.2% for 2025 – hardly setting off fireworks, but it's a smidge better than April's 1.1% forecast.

The boost in optimism comes with a side of scepticism, though. The IMF's basically saying, "Well done, but don’t get too cocky". Trade tensions, mostly hurled across the Atlantic from Trump's America (see story above), remain a thorn in our economic side.

Still, credit where it’s due – Chancellor Rachel Reeves is basking in a rare moment of good press. The UK was apparently the G7’s top economic performer in early 2025, which is like being the least sunburnt person after a week at Glastonbury. She’s touting new trade deals, wage growth outpacing inflation, and three million people getting a pay bump thanks to the national living wage.

POLITICS

Bans, bills & borders: vape vanishes, care(less)
It’s been a week of “out with the old” — unless you’re still hoarding disposable vapes, in which case, out with them too. As of June 1st, the UK’s vaping scene got a cloud-clearing makeover with the ban on single-use vapes. The aim? Save the planet from plastic puffs and rescue a generation of teens from turning into watermelon ice-scented chimneys.

The numbers are shocking: 8.2 million vapes binned weekly, many smouldering into landfill infernos thanks to their flammable lithium cores. But while shops can’t sell them anymore, your secret glovebox stash isn’t contraband (yet). Just don’t try flogging it — fines and even jail await the illicit puff pushers.

Elsewhere, the ethical fog thickens around end-of-life choices. A heated debate is flaring over the UK’s proposed assisted dying bill, with palliative care experts calling it “deeply dangerous,” fearing NHS patients may feel pressured to go gentle into that good night. Oregon’s model, seen by some as dignified and sacred, is viewed by others as a slippery slope greased by budget-friendly goodbyes. MPs vote later this month.

And on the darker fringes of criminal justice, chemical castration is inching into the mainstream. The UK may soon follow the US and parts of Europe with compulsory hormonal treatment for serious sex offenders. Critics question whether it’s justice or just pharmaceutical PR especially given side effects that read like a lottery ticket line you don’t want to see win.

Factories, fishy & free
Britain’s got a new Brexit remix, and this time it comes with pet passports, fewer sausage-shaped headaches, and an unexpected return of eGates. Yes, the UK-EU “reset” deal is finally here. A soothing balm for border-fatigued Brits who just want to take their Labradors to Lake Como without hiring a vet entourage.

Under the new agreement, food trade red tape is sliced, steel tariffs dodged, and British burgers can once again cross the Channel without diplomatic incident. Fishing quotas haven’t budged, but £360m has been flung at the industry to keep it shiny, ship-shape, and proudly British.

Defence, meanwhile, is in vogue again. The UK will soon splash £6bn on new UK weapons factories. There’s a pledge to hit 3% GDP.

Galloway’s green gamble
Well, that’s one in the bin for Brand Scotland. Plans for a shiny new national park in Galloway and Ayrshire have been officially turfed after a tartan-tinged tug-of-war that turned as peaty as a Speyside dram. The project promised eco-tourism, investment, and fewer wind turbines than you could shake a walking stick at.

54% of locals said “nae chance”, with fears that the park would bring more campers than cash, jack up house prices, and layer bureaucracy thicker than tablet at a village fête.

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon admitted the debate got “heated”. Despite ticking all the legal boxes for national park status, the proposal floundered on a lack of community support and some frankly foggy planning.

Environmentalists are left howling at the heather. So, for now, the hills will stay alive without the sound of... Parklife.

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ACROSS THE POND

Tariff tennis
In what feels like the world's most tedious tennis match, Trump's tariffs have now been reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This temporary move pauses a previous ruling, also last week, that found the former president had overstepped his bounds. It’s starting to feel as much like economics as it is like whack-a-mole.

Trump's crew isn't taking it lying down, lobbing shouts of "judicial tyranny" and vowing to bowl these decisions into the Supreme Court's lap. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt blasted judges for overstepping like overzealous referees, claiming they're invading the presidential playbook like a VAR official on a power trip during the FA Cup final.

Elon says cheerio
Elon Musk has decided to prune the bureaucratic hedgerow and call it quits from the Trump administration. The erstwhile boss of efficiency, who stormed Washington with ambitions akin to Mary Poppins on speed, is packing his bags.

Despite metaphors for tax cuts and wielding chainsaws in suits, the savings promised are yet to materialise with the initial $2tn target revised to $1tn and more recently updated to $150bn by the end of 2026.

A more troubling stat according to US treasury data is that since the Trump presidency began, the administration has actually spent $190bn more than the same period last year - granted this will include costs of implementing a new administration and a series of redundancy payouts attributable to DOGE.

The White House confirmed his exit the very day after he poured cold water on Trump’s beloved tax bill, proving his knack for departing with the finesse of Theresa May fielding a dance-off.

TECH

Cyber spiders, space cowboys & virtual reality of war
Step aside Elon, there’s a new sheriff in suborbital town. Blue Origin’s latest space tourism jaunt has launched six civilians past the Kármán line and back, just in time for brunch. Among them: a globe-trotting ambassador, a mountaineer who’s basically allergic to sea level, and a radiologist with her head in the stars.

It’s space tourism for the high-achieving hobbyist. Eleven minutes of zero gravity, panoramic Earth views, and the kind of bragging rights that make Everest seem a bit… pedestrian.

If you’re looking for a way to stay on Earth but still feel like you’re in a sci-fi shooter, Meta and Anduril Industries are cooking up a battlefield headset straight out of Halo. Dubbed “Eagle Eye,” it’s VR-meets-AI-meets-black-ops chic.

Designed to let soldiers control autonomous systems and see the battlefield like a gamer in God mode, it’s what happens when Zuckerberg and Oculus' Palmer Luckey decide to play real-life CoD.

And if that wasn’t enough technological paranoia for one week, British retailer M&S has fallen prey to the hacking collective “Scattered Spider”. The group has already shut down M&S’s online orders, halted contactless payments, and left shelves looking like a January sale hit by locusts.

Robots, wheeled robots taxiing
In cities like San Francisco and Phoenix, self-driving Waymos are quickly replacing not just taxis, but the concept of human drivers. With over 10 million paid trips under its autonomous belt, Waymo’s white Jaguars are quietly normalising what once felt like a Jetsons fever dream. They’re portals of fun, robots like these on the road are cautious and courteous and very soon to be very normal.

The adoption curve has bent sharply. From 10,000 rides a week to over 250,000 in less than two years, Waymo has gone from novelty to necessity. And while Tesla is revving its own robotaxi engine (Musk is reportedly days away from a rival launch in Austin), Waymo’s head start means its cars are already mapping cities across the US and even parts of Tokyo. Europe too!

But as robotaxis become just taxis, the real question is this: will the next great transport revolution come with more silence, fewer crashes, and, blessedly, no small talk? Two, please.

WORLD

Dunkirk, disqualifications & diplomatic disputes
Eighty-five years since Operation Dynamo saw over 338,000 Allied troops whisked from the jaws of German invasion, the “little ships” returned to the French coast in tribute.

Boxing's governing body has barred Algerian Olympic gold medallist Imane Khelif from an upcoming tournament due to new rules on sex testing. The controversy punches hard: is it about fairness, safety, or discrimination in disguise? With mandatory genetic screening incoming, World Boxing says it's safeguarding the sport. Critics, however, see it as throwing in the towel on inclusivity.

Mexico is suing Google for daring to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America (at least for US users). This, apparently, follows a Trumpian decree and Google’s eagerness to play ball. President Sheinbaum, however, isn’t amused and insists the only thing that’s American about the Gulf is the audacity.

There’s still tea in the pot...
The Teapot weekly quiz

Cuppa Chat: Cheat Sheet

🇬🇧🔒 A British man, John Miller, has been charged with conspiring to smuggle US military technology to China and stalking a critic of Beijing. Miller and Chinese national Cui Guanghai could face up to 35 years in prison after their indictment in the US.

🐝🚛 Millions of honeybees escaped after a lorry carrying 70,000 lbs of hives overturned in Washington, USA. Beekeepers are aiding recovery efforts, with hopes of returning the pollinators to their hives.

🎪💔 Yurtel, offering luxury Glastonbury packages, has gone bust, leaving customers potentially out of £16,500 with no tickets. Refunds aren't available, and customers are advised to pursue claims through liquidation.

🎵🎤 Taylor Swift has bought back her master recordings' rights but won't be re-releasing her "Reputation" album. She thanked Shamrock Holdings for the deal.