Friday 28 August 2025
Dear Mighty Memo reader,
Over the last few weeks, we have been busy drafting a document which we call the Mighty Memo Manifesto. This explains what we do and how we do it but mostly why we do what we do.
We have included it below and it is also available on our website here. Do read it when you have the time and let us know what you think at hello@mightymemo.co.uk.
We hope that you enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to tell your friends and relations about the Mighty Memo so that even more people can benefit from what we do.
Regards,
The Mighty Memo team
The Mighty Detail
Economics: US economic growth revised upwards to 3.3 per cent
Business and markets: Former FTSE 100 CEO charged with bribery
Foreign Affairs: Kim Jong Un and Putin to attend China’s Victory Day parade
Security and intelligence: UK, France and Germany to re-sanction Iran
Domestic politics: UK Prime Minister replaces his most senior civil servant
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 9,216.82 (down 0.42%)
S&P 500 = 6,501.86 (up 0.32%)
Nasdaq = 21,705.16 (up 0.53%)
CAC40 = 7,762.60 (up 0.24%)
£1 = $1.35 / €1.16
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The Mighty Headlines
Economics: US economic growth has been revised upwards in Q2 2025 and stands at an annualised rate of 3.3 per cent. There are concerns, however, that this is a statistical anomaly because of the way in which US imports (which fell by nearly 30 per cent in Q2) are treated for the purposes of US GDP calculations.
Business and markets: The former CEO of a FTSE 100 company has been charged with bribery. Kenny Alexander, who is 56 years old, was CEO of Ladbrokes’s parent company GVC until 2020.
A total of 11 people are being charged with bribery, fraud, cheating the public revenue, evading income tax and perverting the course of justice as part of the case.
Foreign Affairs: The Chinese Government has said that President Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will attend a Victory Day parade in Beijing next week. The parade marks China’s victory over Japan in World War II. It will be Kim Jong Un’s first international multilateral event.
Security and intelligence: The UK, France and Germany are set to re-impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. This will include a complete arms embargo on selling weapons to Iran.
It comes 10 years after the countries originally lifted their sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear development.
The three countries said that Iran had no “civilian” justification for its current high enriched uranium stockpile.
Domestic politics: The UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is replacing his Principal Private Secretary, Nin Pandit, after she has served only 10 months in the role. The Principal Private Secretary is the most senior civil servant in the Prime Minister’s Office. She will be replaced by Dan York-Smith, a Treasury civil servant who has led on tax and welfare at the Treasury.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
UK Appeal judges rule on Epping Council’s asylum-seeker injunction
Cowal Highland Gathering (world’s largest Highland games), Scotland
France CPI inflation data (August)
Canada GDP data (Q2 2025)
Lookahead to the weekend
Saturday
Largs Viking Festival begins (ends 7 September), Scotland
Imperial War Museum History Festival begins (ends Sunday)
Victorian Operating Theatre hosts “recreation” of Victorian surgery in Southwark, London
Sunday
F1 Dutch Grand Prix
Sydney Marathon
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Largely dry in the southwest. Light rain in the north and heavy rain in the southeast. High of 20C and low of 11C in London. Light rain in Belfast and Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.” – Simon Sinek, writer
Mighty takeaway: Can you delegate whatever is stressing you to someone else? They may actually enjoy doing what you find stressful to do.
That’s nearly it for this morning and for this week. To read our Mighty Memo Manifesto, please see below.
Thanks for reading and we hope that you have a happy weekend.
Bye!
The Mighty Memo team
The Mighty Memo Manifesto
Our central mission at the Mighty Memo is to inform our readers about what’s happening in the world. We do this by summarising the most important (but not necessarily the most talked about) news stories of the day in a way which is honest, concise and easy to read.
But why do we do this? What’s the point of it all?
We do this because we think it matters.
We do it because we believe that restoring faith in the news media and reporting the relevant stories in a way which is honest, concise and easy to read is as essential to a well-functioning democracy as taxes, defence, healthcare and education.
We do it because we believe the news is a conduit to the way in which we view the world, a lens through which we understand each other and our place in the world.
We are not a news agency or a newspaper. We freely admit this. We do not carry out investigations or reports. But we do work impartially to give you the facts, removing the detritus of opinions and bias attached to many news reports, so that you have a clear understanding of what is actually happening in the world.
That’s why our morning briefings are so short. If you strip out the opinions, you are left with the facts alone. Plain, simple and unadorned. It’s for you to make your own mind up about the news that you read.
Because when trust in the news is lost, when trust in our fellow humans disappears, when faith in our public institutions fades and when our understanding of current affairs is confused, societies fall apart.
One story at a time, one Mighty Memo briefing at a time, one day a time, we will work to put this right.