Happy Monday. And Merry Christmas to you and yours for this week! For those working through, good luck, for those with time off, let’s circle back in the new year. We’ll keep it light next week for those that can’t go a week without the quiz, and hit you with a full Teapot again on the 6th January.

For last minute office Secret Santa, why give the gift of The Teapot? There’s a personal referral link at the bottom of the email, simply share it with your buddies.

Notable UK earnings this week: Agronomics (ANIC), Tavistock Investments (TAVI).

Notable US earnings this week: Ennis (EBF), USBC (USBC), Limoneira (LMNR).

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🌊 Serica deal agreed to buy Spirit Energy assets on the UK Continental Shelf. Read more

✈️ £1.3bn Heathrow T4 revamp to start next year. Read more

Interest rates with all the trimmings
The Bank of England has delivered a timely Christmas surprise: an interest rate cut to 3.75% – the lowest in nearly three years. Not quite the festive miracle we hoped for, but it’s cheaper than a round at a Christmas market. The decision came in on a knife-edge 5-4 vote, which is tighter than your uncle’s trousers after Christmas dinner.

This trim in the borrowing cost haircut reflects growing concern over rising unemployment levels and a rather uninspired economy — one that’s flatlining harder than a Christmas cracker joke. The Bank says the path ahead is still “gradually downward”, though with a warning label: each future cut will be a bit more awkward than your office Secret Santa.

Inflation – now slowing its roll – is expected to hit the Bank's target of 2% by next year, earlier than the ghosts of forecasts past had suggested. Helping hand? Falling fuel prices, stable oil markets, and the government's attempts at festive cheer with energy bill assistance and frozen fuel duties straight from the Budget stocking.

Christmas package for Grangemouth
Just in time for the festive season, when everyone’s desperately clinging to anything still functioning in the economy, the UK government has gifted/invested £150mn into Ineos’s Grangemouth chemical plant in Scotland. It’s a somewhat rare move for a government better known for closing doors than opening factory ones, but apparently saving 500 jobs is still deemed preferable to triggering yet another wave of economic agony north of the border. With industrial sites across Europe shutting up shop like it’s Christmas Eve every day, the backing sends a faint glimmer of hope through Britain’s ailing chemical sector.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe – Britain’s richest man and recent Manchester United buyer, is chucking in £25mn of his own equity and borrowing another £75mn from NatWest to keep Grangemouth going. The government is matching that with a £50mn grant while also having a flutter on the £75mn loan with guarantees. This isn’t just about making ethylene – the plant churns out the crucial gas used in everything from car parts to plastic packaging, hospital kits to water treatment plants. In short, the stuff that keeps modern life ticking along, even if no one ever stops to say, “cheers, ethylene”.

Trail hunting rides into the sunset
As the government sharpens its pitchfork for a new animal welfare strategy, trail hunting may soon be galloping off into the history books. Once hailed as a “kinder” cousin to fox hunting, trail hunting involves hounds chasing a scented rag rather than a real animal - fox hunting with a fake ginger moustache.

With nearly 1,600 reported incidents and 397 fox chases logged last season, the League Against Cruel Sports claims the hunt is still very much on. Labour, smelling a rat (or is it a rag), now wants to close the loophole once and for all. But not everyone’s on steed: countryside defenders argue the sport is vital for rural economies, mental health, and the sheer Britishness of galloping in red coats through muddy fields.

Still, ministers are saddling up for a consultation in the new year, with trail hunting already banned in Scotland. Northern Ireland, meanwhile, remains the final frontier of the hound brigade.

Scotland slams the brakes on slower limits
In Scotland, the government has quietly abandoned plans to drop the national speed limit on single carriageways from 60mph to a more Sunday-drive-ish 50mph. The proposal, part of a broader mission to make Scottish roads the safest on Earth by 2030, was met with the public enthusiasm of a midge swarm at a picnic.

With nine out of ten respondents wagging their fingers in disapproval, the policy was parked - possibly in a layby near Stirling. Still, it’s not all acceleration and celebration. Road deaths rose last year to 160, while the Scottish Greens, eternal champions of slower things, branded the policy reversal “regrettable”.

But it’s not a full stop - just a comma. The government plans to keep crunching the numbers on casualties and journey times before plotting its next move. A speeding ticket to progress, or a policy pile-up?

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US UK AI tech deal hits a glitch
The UK's digital alliance with the US seems to have hit a glitch. Reports from Downing Street assure us that the UK is keeping the tech talk alive with its transatlantic buddies about a much-hyped Technology Prosperity Deal. But like a festive turkey, negotiations appear to have stalled, courtesy of some American quibbles over what they see as British trade blockades.

Sounds a bit of a déjà vu of PMs past, doesn’t it? Heralded as a “historic” moment during Donald Trump’s September soiree at No. 10, the deal was all roses and AI-powered unicorns with promises to strengthen bonds over quantum computing and, dare we say, our nuclear aspirations. Yet, according to The New York Times, the two sides can’t quite get past tiffs on digital regs and food safety.

Sir Keir Starmer, with his high-tech hopefulness, called this deal a massive leap forward in US-UK relations. Yet, despite diplomatic dance moves, the row seems as tangled as Christmas lights in the loft.

TikTok deal date set
TikTok's American branch has found itself a new home just in time for the festive season. The Chinese owners of the video-sharing sensation have penned a deal to flog their US assets to a merry band of American investors. This jolly manoeuvre ensures the platform can breathe easy in the land of the free.

Mark your calendars for 22 January 2026, folks! A wee birdie from NBC News has chirped that this is when the baton will be officially passed. This deal comes after President Joe Biden's decree last year demanding the sale, lest TikTok face a blackout of Dickensian proportions.

Concerns have been rife across the pond that ByteDance might spill the user data tea with the Chinese government, despite the firm vowing their innocence like a politician during a camera interview. Allegations of algorithmic subterfuge have also fluttered about, though denied faster than you can say 'plausible deniability'.

Smile for the state
Santa’s making his list - Facewatch is checking it twice. Retailers from Sports Direct to your nan’s favourite garden centre are now using facial recognition tech to spot known shoplifters. With shoplifting and staff abuse soaring, many businesses say it’s this or bankruptcy.

But while shoplifters may be getting a digital dressing down, so are our civil liberties. Critics, including Big Brother Watch, warn of mistaken identities, sensitive biometric data being quietly hoarded, and supermarket trips starting to feel a bit Minority Report.

And it’s not just shops. Police in another county, now, in Hampshire, are deploying facial recognition vans with all the subtlety of a carnival float. These roving Big Brother-mobiles are tasked with catching suspects, missing persons, and presumably anyone with the wrong kind of jawline.

Meanwhile, if being scanned wasn’t surreal enough, VR is stepping in to fight knife crime. In North Wales and in Staffordshire, schoolkids don headsets to experience life-or-death scenarios - one path leads to arrest, the other to walking away. The aim? Teach kids that choices matter. And, ideally, that real life doesn’t come with a reset button.

Government hacked, Netflix scores FIFA
Speaking of resets and government undoing, the UK government is still hitting Ctrl+Z after a cyber hack in October. While the Foreign Office keeps its lips zipped, it’s rumoured that the Chinese gang “Storm 1849” possibly accessed tens of thousands of visa details. Ministers insist the breach was patched quickly and the risk is low. As Britain tiptoes into Beijing diplomacy, with PM Starmer set for a January visit, it adds a frosty undertone to the already lukewarm tea.

In lighter digital drama, FIFA is back - sort of. After its messy divorce from EA Sports, the beloved footie franchise has found a new home on… Netflix. Yes, the streaming giant is launching a mobile-first football game in 2026, developed by the as-yet-unproven Delphi Interactive. We’ll soon see if it’s more of a promotion or a relegation.

Jimmy Lai’s Long Road to Silence
78-year-old Jimmy Lai, the media mogul-turned-democracy icon, was found guilty of colluding with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s sweeping National Security Law. Once the fiery heart behind Apple Daily, Lai is now staring down a potential life sentence for daring to ask Western leaders to say something nice about Hong Kong’s freedoms.

The UK citizen - yes, ours - has been locked up since 2020, denied bail, his chosen lawyer, and, arguably, the right to protest peacefully. Beijing claims he "harboured hatred" for the People’s Republic, though his real crime seems to be having opinions and friends abroad. As his health deteriorates behind bars, pressure mounts on the UK to turn up the diplomatic thermostat. His son, Sebastien, pleaded for Britain to go beyond polite statements.

Boozy cyclists and Japanese justice
In Japan, nearly 900 drivers have had their car licences suspended for tipsy cycling. If you wobbled home on two wheels with sake on your breath, the police didn’t just take away your pedal power; they came for your car keys too.

Japan’s new traffic laws now treat drunk cyclists with the gravity of a Formula 1 first bend. Breathe over 0.15 mg/l, and you’re looking at jail time, hefty fines, and the eternal shame of losing your licence for being a hazard on a pushbike. With over 72,000 cycling accidents last year, officials aren’t taking chances. In short: ride responsibly, or you may find yourself walking to your next izakaya.