Monday 22 December 2025
Dear Mighty Memo readers,
We wanted to let you know that today is the final Mighty Memo for 2025. Our office will be closed until the new year as we go on our festive break. Your next Mighty Memo will appear on Monday 5th January.
Thank you for reading the Mighty Memo this year and for all those who write in to us with your messages. We are always pleased to hear from you and we look forward to continuing to inform you with our unbiased and informative briefings in 2026.
Merry Christmas to you all and our best wishes to you for a Mighty new year!
See you in 2026!
Best wishes,
The Mighty Memo team
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: Oil prices rise as Trump refuses to rule out war with Venezuela
Business and markets: Waymo pauses robotaxi service in San Francisco
Foreign Affairs: Russia criticises amended peace plan
Security and intelligence: US strikes over 70 ISIS targets in Syria
UK domestic affairs: Santas chase Christmas puddings in yearly beach race
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 9,897.42 (up 0.61%)
S&P 500 = 6,834.50 (up 0.88%)
Nasdaq = 23,307.62 (up 1.31%)
CAC40 = 8,151.38 (up 00.91%)
£1 = $1.33 / €1.14
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: The price of Brent crude oil rose by 1.09 per cent on Friday, after President Trump said that he would not rule out a war with Venezuela.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and it exports around 749,000 barrels a day.
President Trump refused to say on Friday whether he wished to overthrow Venezuela’s President Maduro, but commented that Maduro “knows exactly what I want”.
Business and markets: Waymo paused its robotaxi services in San Francisco at the weekend, after a power cut affected the city’s traffic lights and led Waymo taxis to misbehave. The taxis stopped in the middle of streets and at intersections, creating traffic jams. Waymo is owned by Google and operates driverless, fully autonomous taxis.
Foreign Affairs: The Russian Government has said that the European and Ukrainian amendments to the peace deal “definitely do not improve the document” or improve the prospects for peace.
It comes during talks between the US and Russian negotiators in Miami yesterday.
US intelligence is separately reported as saying that Russia remains intent on taking all of Ukraine and some parts of Europe which were in the former USSR.
Security and intelligence: The US military carried out large-scale airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria on Friday. The US military said it hit over 70 targets and that this was retaliation for attacks on US service personnel.
Two US soldiers and an interpreter were killed in a suspected ISIS attack on the 13th December.
There are currently around 1,000 US soldiers stationed in Syria.
UK domestic affairs: *A festive heart-warmer to end this year’s final Mighty Memo* Over 200 people dressed as Father Christmas chased other runners dressed as Christmas puddings on Weymouth beach yesterday. The annual event raises funds for the Will Mackaness Trust in memory of school student Will Mackaness who died from cancer in 2008. The Trust has raised £30,000 over the last ten years.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
Resident doctors’ strike in England ends
ASEAN Foreign Ministers meet to discuss the Thailand-Cambodia dispute
UK Parliament in recess
UK year-on-year GDP data (Q3 2025) – set to remain at 1.3%
Lookahead to tomorrow
UN Security Council meeting on Venezuela
French budget deadline
UK Parliament in recess
US annualised GDP data (Q3 2025) – set to fall from 3.8% to 3.2%
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Light cloud but dry across most of England. Light rain in the southwest. High of 12C and low of 5C in London. Light rain in Belfast. Light rain in Edinburgh (morning only).
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” – Muhammad Ali
Mighty takeaway: Believe deeply in yourself and your goals and you will be able to achieve them.
That’s it for this Monday and for this year. See you in 2026!
Bye!
The Mighty Memo team
*To read the Mighty Memo manifesto and learn about why we do this visit: https://www.mightymemo.co.uk/why*