
Tomorrow's Business Today
Humiliation in the jungle: Boris next, please
By some accounts, Matt Hancock’s foray into the jungle isn’t an ill-judged cash grab from a man who has massively mis-judged the esteem in which he is held. It’s supposedly a clever PR strategy, led by his girlfriend Gina Coladangelo. A friend close to the couple say: “If he wanted a platform to engage with millions of viewers, push a lot of the campaigns he cares about, show what he’s actually like as a person, and didn’t mind probably not serving in government again, then it could be a good opportunity … It was obviously very high risk.” No kidding. His being resurrected as a personable chap rather requires him to be likable in the first place. I’ve watched quite a lot of I’m A Celebrity and have seen no evidence of this. There was one human moment when he admits he is seeking forgiveness. There was a pause, before everyone thought: no chance mate. And his being pelted with custard, bitten by scorpions and forced to eat kangaroo bits has so far been strangely unsatisfying. He has sort of coped with it, which is not what we wanted to see. He hasn’t been through enough for us to forgive him, so the PR plan doesn’t seem to me to be working. For our Find Out Now poll this week we asked Which MP would you most like to see humiliated on I’m A Celebrity Get me Out of Here? Boris Johnson was the clear winner, with strong showings for Nicola Sturgeon and Liz Truss. Kwasi Kwarteng, my choice, can’t even get any votes on this one. Boris won in every single region, and especially among 18-24 year olds. |

Press release of the day
Wealthy Britons think taxation is at about the right level, says this from wealth manager Charles Stanley. Normally, rich people saying “don’t tax us more” would not be of interest. Ahead of tomorrow’s budget when they are presumably going to be squeezed even harder, such voices might get more traction than usual. |

Stories that will keep rolling
1) How will the pound react to the fiscal statement?
2) Is Mastodon a serious competitor to Twitter?
3) How much more is Xmas dinner going to cost this year?
4) Is Royal Mail secretly glad of strike action so it can force through its break up idea?