New strawberries, please 🍓

Happy Monday. The British summer is in full swing, Wimbledon is underway and England are competing against India in a test match. No surprise that home worker is showing as “away” on Teams.

If you want to feel even more British, here’s an opportunity to grumble about the price of food. This year Wimbledon increased their price of a portion of strawberries to £2.70, breaking a 15 year long freeze at £2.50 (still far less than I had anticipated). Better yet, spectators are expected to gobble 2.5 million, individual strawberries each tournament - that’s enough to fill 12 full size singles courts.

MARKETS

Data: Google Finance, 5-day Market Close

Notable UK earnings this week: Jet2 (JET2), Zigup (ZIG), Optima Health (OPT).

Notable US earnings this week: Progressive Corporation (PGR), Delta Airlines (DAL), Pricesmart (PSMT).

📈📉

PROJECT WATCH

🏗️ £450m regeneration plan to build 1,600 homes in Oldham. Read more

🔌 Cable laying to resume for high voltage UK - Germany link. Read more

🌊 UK firm in consortium to explore Mediterranean floating nuclear power. Read more

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Wimbledon means business
Wimbledon 2025 is set to serve up a staggering £224.8 million in visitor spending between April and October—more than any other UK sporting event this year—driven by around 526,000 fans flocking to court-side glory.

Each fan shells out approximately £80–£85 a day on hotels, food, transport, and treats, transforming local pubs, B&Bs, and Uber drivers into big winners. And the real kicker? This concentrated economic volley helps boost the UK's broader sports-tourism total of £2.2 billion between spring and autumn.

Looking ahead, once planned expansions roll out—like new courts and upgraded facilities—Wimbledon is expected to become an even bigger ace in Britain’s hand, projecting up to £480 million in annual economic returns. Strawberries, serves, and soft power never looked so lucrative!

London IPOs at a new low
If London's financial markets were throwing a street party this July, you might be alright with a couple of big pizzas. So far in 2025, London IPOs have raised just £160 million — the lowest first-half total since Dealogic started keeping tabs back in 1995. For context, even in the financial apocalypse of 2008-09, we managed a sprightlier £222 million. Not exactly Platinum Jubilee levels of glory.

Only five companies have dared to debut on the London market this year, and professional services firm MHA’s £98 million raised on AIM in April was the high watermark — a figure that would barely register across the pond. Meanwhile, the Americans raised a cheek-dimpling $28.3 billion (yes, with a ‘b’) from 156 IPOs in the same period.

Heavy-hitters like Shein, Cobalt Holdings and AstraZeneca have either moved listings or flirted openly with New York and Hong Kong. Wise, the British fintech darling, decided to ditch London altogether — CEO Kristo Käärmann citing better market liquidity Stateside.

POLITICS

Corbyn plots comeback
Zarah Sultana, the MP who once made headlines for backing free school meals and pro-Gaza stances, has finally left Labour, and she didn’t leave quietly. She’s co-founding a new party with Jeremy Corbyn. "The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape". Ideas for the party name reportedly include The Collective, Arise, or possibly just The Real Labour Party.

Corbyn’s pitch? Labour has abandoned hope. Sultana’s line? Poverty and war aren't inevitable. And while most of Labour’s left-leaners applauded politely from the benches, they’ve yet to jump ship.

Meanwhile, in a less dramatic but more government-sanctioned shift, Labour’s Bridget Phillipson launched a £500m expansion of “Best Start” family hubs across every local council in England.

These are part early-years support centres, part throwback to New Labour’s Sure Start days, and part rebranding of Tory-era ‘family hubs’. The hubs offer parenting help, youth clubs, birth registration, midwife check-ins and maybe a side of political redemption for a party still haunted by the ghost of Tony Blair’s spreadsheets.

Battle for legacy
Ellie James didn’t set out to be an activist, but after losing her husband, Owain to a brain tumour, she’s now calling for a law in his name. Owain’s experimental cancer treatment used a vaccine made from his own tumour tissue, tissue that, as it turns out, he didn’t legally own.

Once it’s in paraffin, the NHS calls dibs. If contaminated or stored wrong? The patient loses all say in future use, including for treatments that could extend life. Ellie and MS Hefin David are now pushing for “Owain’s Law” in the Welsh Senedd: a legal right for patients to control what happens to their own biological material.

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ACROSS THE POND

Player 3? Elon’s “America” Party
Elon Musk, known for his space flights and electric car exploits, has now set his sights on the final frontier of American politics. Musk's latest venture is the "America Party," aimed at dismantling what he calls a "one-party system" that has created even more debt than that uni degree your school signed you up for.

Musk announced his grand political ambitions on X, his social media playground, shortly after Trump’s domestic policy bill was enacted on the ever-patriotic 4th of July. Apparently, there’s been more fireworks this year than usual, just not the kind that light up the sky. Musk accused Washington of bankrupting America faster than you can say "buy now, pay later," and positioned his party as a beacon of fiscal responsibility.

Details are sparse—let's say as sparse as a British summer's sunshine—but Musk suggests targeting a select few Senate and House seats to influence legislative decisions. If you’re imagining a Musk-led G7 summit, hold your horses (or Teslas). He hasn't thrown his proverbial hat into the electoral ring just yet.

While Musk has a bank balance that could rival the GDP of some small nations, he'll face uphill battles that rival climbing Everest in stilettos when challenging the bipartisan powerhouse of US politics. Indeed, creating a third party in the US often ends like a bad episode of EastEnders—with a lot of shouting, but little resolution.

EU trade deadline looms
With a mere whisper of a few days remaining, the EU and the US are scrambling like contestants on “Bake Off” finale night. The July 9 deadline looms, promising tariffs up to a sizzling 50% on EU imports if no deal is struck. Meanwhile, the EU’s eyeing its own countermeasures, holding them like a sceptre of sovereignty.

Europe and America’s trade tango waltzes around a whopping 30% of global goods trade. Yet, much like predicting the British weather, nailing down a deal is fraught with uncertainty. Last year alone, trade between these not-so-twin flames looked a lot like a Shakespearean comedy, valued at around £1.38 trillion. Europe might have bagged a sizeable £165 billion in goods surplus, but it ended in a £123 billion service deficit, leaving its overall surplus at a cool £42 billion.

President Trump’s been blowing his trumpet about the perceived injustices of this trade liaison, his “take it or leave it” tariff notes penned like eviction letters to a bad tenant. By Friday, he claims to have sent 12 such love notes, unclear if Brussels was a lucky recipient. Negotiations are slower than the queue at the post office during Christmas, with EU President Ursula von der Leyen hinting at the best they'll get is not much more than a political handshake.

TECH

Trump says TikTok’s basically sold - again
Trump says he’ll be calling up China “Monday or Tuesday”, like he’s ordering takeout. This is TikTok’s third reprieve from the US ban, with ByteDance now given until September 17 to offload the app before it’s yeeted from every American phone.

Astronomical losses
Google has to cough up $314.6 million to Android users in California after a jury caught it data-snatching from phones in sleep mode. Yes, while your phone was ‘sleeping’, Google was quietly whispering, “I know what you did last summer… and this morning… and your GPS coordinates”.

Meanwhile, an $88 million methane-tracking satellite backed by Google and Bezos just went AWOL. MethaneSat, built to expose mega-polluters, went radio silent last week. The verdict? Likely not coming back.

WORLD

Peru digs up a lost city older than your excuses
In the northern highlands of Peru, archaeologists have uncovered Peñico, a 3,500-year-old city that once served as a buzzing trade hub between the Pacific coast, the Andes, and the Amazon.
Think: ceremonial temples, clay animal sculptures, and seashell jewellery.
It’s believed to be a continuation of the Caral civilisation, the OG Americas society that was thriving back when the Pyramids were still under warranty.

Paris, swim the Seine again
After 100 years of saying non, Parisians are once again diving into the River Seine following a hygiene glow-up costing over €1.4bn. Three areas near landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame now feature designated swim zones, lifeguards, and the promise of only moderate bacteria.

Wimbledon drops the ball
British player Sonay Kartal won a match thanks to the new (busted) electronic line-calling system, which conveniently forgot to call her out-of-bounds shot. Her opponent, Pavlyuchenkova, was not amused:

“They stole the game from me!”
She may have a point. The replay showed the ball was miles out. But since the umpire trusted the glitchy system, the point was replayed, and Kartal went on to win.
The All England Club said it was “operator error”.

South Korea rewrites its martial law
After ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to use martial law to block lawmakers from entering Parliament, new rules were passed banning military interference at the Assembly gates.
Yoon’s currently on trial for insurrection, his party’s in ruins, and new president Lee Jae Myung is promoting peace with North Korea.

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