Simon Rose

A voice and a pen

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JC-W @Film_Rev_Daily mystified by success of #1 horror Backrooms w. Chewitel Ejiofor. But he isn't aware of antecedents. Much more taken with #9 Power Ballad w. Paul Rudd. Written & directed by John Carney, even better than earlier films like Once & Sing Street. Interesting characters, witty dialogue & great music; it reduced James to tears. Ladies First, on Netflix, stars Sacha Baron Cohen & Rosamund Pike. Is about a womanising liar who wakes up in parallel universe which is a matriarchy. With echoes of Mel Gibson's What Women Want, it's witty & well acted but more farcical fantasy than satire.
https://t.co/dwg4zDWi2g

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Scientists have made sourdough bread from yeast inside 5,300-year-old Ozti the Iceman. Beer is next. Boeing 747-400s update their maps with 12 floppy discs. You will soon be able to visit your greenhouse with a VR headset. Nvidia's new AI chip "could replace the mouse and keyboard". Helios robot might be used for manual space tasks, having no legs but 2 pairs of arms. There's a crowd-funded desk-mounted robot arm, but nobody knows what it is for. If you're too warm, there's a solar-powered cap. Scientists say they can put solar cells in windows. And cosmetic surgeons's clients are asking the impossible – to look like AI-generated versions of themselves.
https://t.co/MlLyygK51f

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Recent trading update of Games Workshop significantly beat expectations, says Neil Shah @Edison_Inv_Res. Growing so strongly, has already beaten Edison's 2027 numbers. Benefits from loyal consumer demand, still expanding geographically and will benefit from the linked Amazon drama. Fortnight ago Neil talked of attractions of Easyjet, now the subject of bid. It may be opportunistic but there is strong underlying demand and valuation there. Stelios still owns 15% and, given that shares went to £18, may not be willing to sell. But shows there are some v. attractive UK businesses out there.
https://t.co/lGVkHc66zT

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Recent interventions by Alan Milburn & Tony Blair are being ignored by Labour, says @ProfTEvans @MDXbusiness, as with news as many union members support Reform. New leader will clearly be incapable of learning how to win over public, even though that would pose problems for Tories & Reform. Labour struggles to know what it is about, like the Tories. Tim believes UK police force is another failed brand, no longer an arms-length neutral institution but a part of the state and a political football. Hard to see how it can extricate itself and rebuild its reputation.
https://t.co/1g6uElDUFT

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JC-W @Film_Rev_Daily says #1 Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is boring, yet another fantasy franchise with great FX and no plot. Not so #8 Finding Emily, best romcom in some time. Produced by team behind Love Actually & Bridget Jones, about student trying to find girl he clicked with, only for search to go badly awry. Humming with great Curtis-esque lines, has an engaging freshness & feels very real. After brief mention of Hen, with a hen observing Greek life, James discusses Wizard of the Kremlin w. Paul Dano & Alicia Vikander, about filmmaker who becomes adviser to Putin. On various platforms, has air of a Europudding.
https://t.co/VaerxV124q

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Tech solutions for keeping cool from @stevecaplin, including Sony's wearable air conditioner, a neck fan and an umbrella with built-in fan and water mister. There's a affordable humanoid robot. Shanghai launches a robot training school. LaGuardia has life-size AI hologram offering help for travellers. First Ferrari electric car universally condemned, except by the Pope, who launched it. There's a crowd-funded AR HUD system for bikes. A Chelsea Flower Show designer has made mushrooms sing. A statue forger was caught by font. And there's advice on best way to protect yourself from bomb blast.
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Essay from the ghost of Labour Past, Tony Blair, discussed by @Mike_Indian. Gone down like lead balloon with the party. Ahead of the Makerfield by-election, Labour in holding pattern. Whoever succeeds Starmer will face a challenging landscape. Peter Murrell's admission of £400,000 embezzlement raises questions about Sturgeon's judgement and perhaps explains her sudden resignation. Alan Milburn's "lost generation" report shows that today's young people detachment from labour market could harm rest of their lives. Report not likely to find much sympathy within Starmer government.
https://t.co/2u0FPLaaei

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How might markets react if there's an 8th mid-term Prime Minister since 1962? @russmould1 @ajbell says by and large equity market doesn't seem to be particularly threatened by such changes, while gilt yields on every occasion go down, though there's wide range of outcomes. Whatever their policies, the occupant of Number 10 is more likely to shape the P in P/E ratios than the E.
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Finlay Mathers @Edison_Inv_Res explains why MP Evans and AEP fell so heavily this week. Both produce crude palm oil, in ⅓ of things on supermarket shelves. Indonesian President to centralise exports through state-run company. Investors fear bottlenecks & distorted prices. Both comps, however, say they do not export directly. After easyJet's report, Neil Shah says investors should consider how it will be perceived after Iran crisis. Planes alone are worth £8 a share. Trade cheaply with attractive yield. If think status quo will return, could be interesting from valuation perspective.
https://t.co/QV4dRpTNHp

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Labour is at war with itself, says @ProfTEvans @MDXbusiness, divided into several factions. Level of trust so bad with it, party may not keep together. Public compare them with Tories & think "same difference". Unintended consequence of professionalised policians? Hugely ambitious, don't have the breadth of experience of yesterday & feel separate from ordinary public. Greens & Reform rediscovering the amateur tradition. Also discusses battle between belief in Laffer Curve & smaller state & those who cleave to Wagner's Law, explaining why state keeps growing.
https://t.co/GGYyK8Uv4L

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JC-W @Film_Rev_Daily loves #7 The Christophers, Steven Soderbergh's near two-hander w. Ian McKellan & Michaela Coel. About children of famous painter asking forger to finish father's canvasses. Benefits from superb acting & magnificently witty script. Although a theatrical experience, it is very funny. At #64 is Life Hack, a tale of attempted heist by hackers in the world of bitcoin. Although all happens on screen, deserves to be caught in cinemas. James continues exploration of E. German DEFA films with 1966 banned Trace of Stones. Depicting life in GDR, seems uncontroversial now, though hardly flattering. Home video premiere accompanied by three docs.
https://t.co/hTkwyyqiIh

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Limited-edition swatches caused near riots, says @stevecaplin. Hauwei to make smart headlights that can project movies & games. Guide dogs can control your house with Dogosophy Button. Colossal Biosciences hatched chickens from 3D-printed eggs. AI agents are becoming Marxists. If nostalgic for classic arcade games, can get machine for your home. New Spitfires could be built at quarter of cost, using wartime alternative to aluminium. Robot wolves are seeing off lethal bear attacks in Japan. And biological ageing can be slowed by artistic endeavours as effectively as by exercising.
https://t.co/MHnRRsC5qJ

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JC-W @filmrev finds #3 Sheep Detectives full of annoying hammy acting but families will take astonishingly animated sheep to their hearts. Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard & Soft is a concert film directed by James Cameron. Often hard to hear lyrics, perhaps one for her fans. Out on Blu-Ray is Lynne Ramsay's Die My Love. Robert Pattinson sidelined by Jennifer Lawrence's impressive perf. as a depressive mother becoming increasingly irrational. An important film, it juggles realism with the nightmarish & is almost a character-based horror film.
https://t.co/5LM71iMOZf

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How exciting will TV show of Wordle be, asks @stevecaplin? Beer station in China has surge pricing while satirical video games machines appear in Washington. Audible opens NY bookshop with no books, only audiobooks. Can now buy the Adidas shoes that broke the 2hr Marathon record. Uproar at Chelsea Flower Show over gardener launching an AI garden design app. Universities in Rome and Belgium have made a performance exoskeleton to train violinists. There's a crowdfunded egg-shaped mouse. Car rental companies lost all records because of a destructive AI bot. And Colossal Biosciences are trying to bring back the bluebuck antelope.
https://t.co/AjDXZd35QK

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Steady drip of those calling for Starmer to give a timetable for resignation, says @Mike_Indian. He is bloody-minded tho and may survive for longer, reshuffling his cabinet. Where are the intellectuals & big thinkers? Mike hopes Ed Miliband moves to Treasury, where his talents could make big difference. Popularity less imp than ideas; people want their lives to be materially better: more important than who's in Number Ten.
https://t.co/G3EANEahRy

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5% on 10-year gilt highest since 2008, says @russmould1 @ajbell. If Starmer and Reeves go, will have 7th PM & 9th Chancellor in 10 yrs. In G20 only emerging markets pay more to borrow than UK. Theoretically risk-free & tax-free 5% yield is potential alternative to shares but inflation is the enemy: while the UK market yields 3.6%, with buybacks, bids and so on, more like 6.3%.
https://t.co/npoe8kO1u1

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JC-W @Film_Rev_Daily says #1 The Devil Wears Prada 2 took 85% of original total in 3 days. Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt & Anne Hathaway reunited. It's formulaic pleasure with plenty of laughs. Primavera, about Vivaldi, one of best films of year: showing in Picturehouse & Curzon hardtops. All should watch Netflix doc The Plastic Detox. Full of good humour, despite message about the toxic chemicals in plastics altering our hormones. Made a massive difference to 6 childless couples who were the detox guinea pigs. Skip Greenland 2: Migration, an apocalyptic thriller with Gerard Butler. Awful.
https://t.co/ojzxziTpzu

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Sabicap enables you to type merely by thinking, says @stevecaplin. For the deaf, vibrating pillow sleeve will alert them to fire or burglar alarms. Study shows that friendly AI chatbots much less accurate. Richard Dawkins believes chatbots are conscious. Tokyo Airport using humanoid robots as baggage handlers. Those wanting hard-to-keep Arowana fish can now get robot version. There's a robot chess tutor. And Steve has bought a recommended mini icemaker.
https://t.co/LMsBwpo7d5

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16% of UK 16-24 year olds unemployed, says @ProfTEvans @MDXbusiness, worse than Spain & Greece. Cost pressures, AI, bad health & skills mismatch creating perfect storm. Tony Blair's thinktank urging Labour to scrap "unaffordable" state pension Triple Lock. This is among most radical policy thinking in 100 years. Effectively Blair saying welfare state is heading towards bankruptcy. And while we are most affected by local government, rather than national, few bodies focus on it. Yet council overreach is creating collapse in trust between people & those who have most effect on their lives.
https://t.co/E1ME19C41K

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Liam O'Byrne of @Edison_Inv_Res highlights Seraphim Space Investment Trust, investing in private space tech. Shares up 300%+ in year. Despite the rise, are several positive catalysts ahead. Molten Ventures, in FTSE250, is a venture capital firm focussing on private high-growth tech. Recent trading update makes for encouraging reading. They trade at a discount of 25% but management working to close that.
https://t.co/4RKjBwMSCB