Russ Mould

You'd think that that would be some cheer for them.

But yeah, after that announcement from Paddy Power about the UK and Irish closers, Betfred, another one of the biggest players here in the UK...

It said it will close all of its nearly 1,300 UK high street shops if Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves jacks up gambling taxes at the November budget.

Now, whether this is just a negotiating tactic and an attempt to put pressure on the Chancellor or not is hard to say.

Some people will say, good, they're a blight, problem gambling brings misery.

Others will say, hang on a minute, there's a lot of jobs at stake here.

It does provide a lot of pleasure for a lot of people.

And as you say, Jonathan, yes, you can bet online quite legitimately, but any keen reader of the Racing Post will know in following their research on how many punters are now going to unregulated gambling sites.

So the Chancellor may think that she's going to pull in some readies, but she may find it's not quite as simple as she thinks.

The experiences of the Netherlands suggest as much, yeah.

Now, I think you've seen through their agenda straight away there.

So the International Maritime Organization had organized a huge meeting, a huge summit to work on emission standards and the switch to cleaner fuels for global shipping by 2028.

Remember, this is 90% of global trade is still seaborne.

So this is still a big deal, even if...

They reckon that shipping is a very low single-digit percentage of total emissions.

Trade continues to grow.

So it looked like the deal was coming.

Saudi Arabia then put in a motion for an adjournment for a year.

America backed that.

President Trump weighed in saying it's another, quote, green scam and threatened extra tariffs on any nation that signed this agreement.