the defence secretary grant shapps said the royal navy is working on a new dragonfire laser weapon to complement its existing weaponry, the sea viper air defence system. that s to be upgraded with a new warhead and software to counter ballistic missile threats. here s grant shapps. we have, for example, the largest ships that we have ever put to sea in the aircraft carriers. i toss it off, i think, 13 frigates and destroyers which are under commission at the moment. we are modernising the navy, going throughjust massive through just massive capitalisation programme and just this morning, for example, i have been on x, twitter, yesterday, the results of a new weapon which is a laser weapon called dragonfire, capable of doing what those men and women on hms diamond have been doing, with the sea viper missile system, and doing it with a labour laser instead to bring down incoming so the technology is also moving on very fast, as well as the investment. economists have warned
joins me now, head of autos and infrastructure at fitch solutions. good morning to you. so, this has literallyjust come out, hasn t it? what do you make of this plan? it hasn t it? what do you make of this plan? this plan? it really appears to be future this plan? it really appears to be future proofing this plan? it really appears to be future proofing the - this plan? it really appears to | be future proofing the industry for this shift to evs which is already the fastest growing segment in the market, and that brings with it big changes to the manufacturing side of the industry. we have been looking at something similar ourselves and what will be the megatrends in the industry to 2050 and one of those is automation because evs are particularly well suited by manner of having fewer parts to more automated manufacturing and it has an impact on the skill sets that are required for manufacturing. but notjust are required for manufacturing. but not just the are required fo
lower but to put that into context it was at zero in europe this time last year. and in the world s largest economy the us, the cost of borrowing is at 5% to 5.25%. but critics point out rising interest rates is a blunt tool that comes with its own set of dangers that can pose further risks to the economy. so what else can be done? well, central bankers are getting together today in portugal to chew over this challenge. joining me now isjennifer mckeown chief global economist at capital economics. good morning to you, jennifer. so it s a lovely location, portugal, you got christine lagarde there, andrew bailey, jerome powell among others, what do you think they will chew on? of course they re all increasing the cost of borrowering and in some places like the uk, so far it s having little effect. little effect. yeah, you re ri . ht. little effect. yeah, you re right. beautiful little effect. yeah, you re right. beautiful location, | little effect. yeah, you rel right. be
jonathan charles is back with us geopolitical insight advisor, specialising in russia and the countries around it and a former bbc correspondent in moscow and ukraine markets in moscow and ukraine quick to react and no surprise markets quick to react and no surprise that the rouble has sunk. it surprise that the rouble has sunk. . , , ., ., sunk. it hasn t been doing that well for several sunk. it hasn t been doing that well for several weeks - sunk. it hasn t been doing that well for several weeks and - well for several weeks and months and it was inevitable with uncertainty and that is what we have with russia now, it has exacerbated a trend and we have seen that fall in the rouble. untilwe we have seen that fall in the rouble. until we know what is going to happen, can vladimir putin reassert that sense of strongman rule which at least is certainty, it may not be very nice, but at least it is certainty, then there will be questions about the economy, about the roub
the global monetary pivot that was what some commentators were declaring on wednesday, after the us federal reserve said it had probably finished raising interest rates, and signalled it was planning to start cutting them next year. but clearly, neither the european central bank nor the bank of england got the memo. they left their rates on hold and said it was too early to talk about cutting them. in fact, here in the uk, three members of the bank of england monetary policy committee actually voted to raise the interest rate above its current level of 5.25%. the bank is worried that inflation the rate that prices are rising is still not under control. our economics editor faisal islam reports # last christmas, i gave you my heart.# liverpool s christmas market the festive spirit is here, but little sign of a marked upturn in the economy. people here continuing to have to cope with new surges in the cost of living, even as inflation slows. i sold my car last week. car