No 263: Three Interesting Current Micro Stories

 (1) There is to be an investigation over UK food prices, to check if supermarkets have been taking advantage of the recent rise in food prices to overcharge customers:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65601292

 

(2) While the UK CMA has blocked the proposed merger of Microsoft and Activision (a games company), the EU have approved it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65566438 

 

(3)  The energy firm, Octopus Energy, recently switched its email answering service from humans to AI. It has replaced the work of  250 people. Customer satisfaction is much higher with the AI generated emails:

OctopusenergyAI Yahoo News

 

Would really impress examiners to able to refer to such recent events.....

 

 

No 262: Round Up of UK Economic Data

 LOTS of important UK macro data in the last week or so.

(1) The Base Rate of Interest was put up from 4.25% to 4.5%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65554797

(2) UK GDP Growth in Q1 2023 was only 0.1%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65562888

(3) ***TODAY*** UK unemployment (Q1 2023) has gone up from 3.7% to 3.9%.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/16/uk-payroll-fall-unemployment-rate-rises

Referring to such "fresh" data is sure to impress the examiner! Even better if you read the articles above and absorb some more detail.....