ISSUE NO. 52 · THURSDAY 15 OCTOBER 2026 5 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct, 7.00am BST 6 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST 13 days to the Budget Wed 28 Oct Britain added 3.7m payroll jobs and 2.3m more out-of-work claimants, ISA millionaires hit a record 7,730, and the cheapest Budget fix is free Sunday trading Three stories today and not one of them asks the Chancellor for money. Two weeks from a Budget where every spending line is already contested, that is the thread worth pulling. The first...
4 days ago • 4 min read
ISSUE NO. 51 · WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2026 1 day to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 6 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 7 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST Inflation above target for a seventh year, BP writing down up to $4.5bn on green, and 42 live bids for London companies The IMF has Britain growing at 1.3% this year, joint-second in the G7. It also has UK inflation averaging 3.3%, behind only America’s, and above the Bank of England target for a seventh consecutive year. What today’s stories...
5 days ago • 4 min read
ISSUE NO. 50 · MONDAY 12 OCTOBER 2026 3 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 8 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 9 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST An £18bn war risk against an £11bn buffer, Shell’s margin at $42 a barrel, and permanent hiring at a four-year high EY puts the Chancellor’s buffer at £11.3bn, and that figure assumes the Strait of Hormuz reopens in time for the Budget. Let the war run into the middle of next year and another £18bn comes off, more than the cushion itself. Last...
7 days ago • 4 min read
ISSUE NO. 49 · FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER 2026 6 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 11 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 12 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST Diesel past 200p with Shell’s margin at $42 a barrel, London homes down 2.2%, and permanent hiring at a four-year high Diesel went past 200p a litre in Britain for the first time last week. Shell expects its refining margin to reach $42 a barrel this quarter, against $24 in the last. The same squeeze reads as pain on the forecourt and profit...
10 days ago • 4 min read
ISSUE NO. 48 · THURSDAY 8 OCTOBER 2026 7 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 12 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 13 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST Inflation at 3.1% with food heading above 6%, a £2.3bn Tory pledge, and £858m more out of equity funds The IMF has told governments how to handle a price shock: help the poorest households, pay it as income support, and stop when the shock does. Broad tax cuts and price caps are the expensive way to look generous. Healey’s Budget is three...
11 days ago • 3 min read
ISSUE NO. 47 · WEDNESDAY 7 OCTOBER 2026 8 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 13 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 14 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST Banks already pay 46% of profits in tax, £121bn of billionaire wealth has left, and your employer picked your pension on price British banks hand over 46% of their profits in tax, more than their rivals in Amsterdam or Frankfurt, and they are about to be asked for more. A year ago their lobbyists wanted the surcharge scrapped. They have...
12 days ago • 4 min read
ISSUE NO. 46 · TUESDAY 6 OCTOBER 2026 9 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 14 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 15 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST An £11bn buffer with £18bn at risk, Chinese brands at nearly a quarter of the car market, and Costa back in profit Healey goes into this Budget with about £11bn of room, and whether he keeps it depends on a strait two thousand miles away. EY’s forecast assumes the Gulf reopens; if it does not, the buffer is gone. The other two stories are...
13 days ago • 3 min read
ISSUE NO. 45 · MONDAY 5 OCTOBER 2026 10 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 15 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 16 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST A £146bn pension promise sent for review, a Chancellor hinting at capital gains, and a housing market that has stopped moving before the Budget The state pension costs about £146bn a year, and the prime minister spent his conference week preparing people for the idea that its guaranteed rise will not outlive the next manifesto. Pensioners...
14 days ago • 4 min read
ISSUE NO. 44 · FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER 2026 13 days to monthly GDP Thu 15 Oct, 7.00am BST 18 days to jobs data Tue 20 Oct 19 days to CPI Wed 21 Oct, 7.00am BST House prices down 0.2% in September, bank lending heading for a three-year low, and a £16bn London AI firm that raised nothing The average UK home is worth £274,251, and that number has started going backwards. September took 0.2% off it and halved the annual rate of increase. One condition runs under all three stories: borrowing is dear and...
17 days ago • 3 min read