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[00:00:04] Now on BBC News. The latest
[00:00:07] business news from across the globe.
[00:00:09] globe. Business Today. MUSIC
[00:00:20] Affordability. Election. Wall Street readies for a big week as
[00:00:24] as America heads to the polls for for the midterms. What could it tell
[00:00:27] tell us about the state of the world's
[00:00:29] world's biggest economy? More people
[00:00:31] people are working than at any time
[00:00:34] time in the history of our country.
[00:00:39] country. Back online investors pull pull over $3 billion of assets out
[00:00:43] out of Binance as withdrawals resume. resume. After last week's massive
[00:00:47] massive hack. And room for judgement.
[00:00:49] judgement. The boss of signal tells tells the BBC artificial intelligence
[00:00:53] intelligence development needs to
[00:00:57] to slow down. Welcome. This is Business
[00:00:59] Business Today in London with me me Sally Bundock. So we start in
[00:01:02] in the US where President Trump has
[00:01:04] has been making his last campaign campaign speeches ahead of Tuesday's
[00:01:08] Tuesday's midterm elections. The The President has been calling on
[00:01:11] on voters to consider his name to
[00:01:13] to be on the ballot during an extremely
[00:01:15] extremely busy month of rallies across
[00:01:18] across multiple states. The vote, vote, which has been called the most
[00:01:22] most consequential US midterms in
[00:01:24] in years, could see the ruling Republican Republican Party lose its majority
[00:01:28] majority in the House of Representatives
[00:01:31] Representatives and potentially even even the Senate. It's all to play
[00:01:34] play for something that could slow slow down President Trump's ability
[00:01:38] ability to enact his policies during
[00:01:40] during the final two years of his his term. For financial markets,
[00:01:44] markets, the results, which include
[00:01:46] include key governor races, could
[00:01:48] could change the trajectory of closely
[00:01:50] closely watched policies from US
[00:01:53] US public spending and the AI build
[00:01:55] build out all at a time when US government government borrowing costs courtesy
[00:01:59] courtesy of the bond markets, have have been soaring and US national
[00:02:03] national debt is at an all-time high.
[00:02:06] high. One major issue is the rising rising cost of living inflation,
[00:02:10] inflation, driven by surging oil oil prices from the war in Iran.
[00:02:13] Iran. But President Trump says the
[00:02:15] the US has never been in a better
[00:02:18] better position. Under my leadership
[00:02:20] leadership income for hard working working Americans has soared to the
[00:02:24] the highest level ever recorded. recorded. More Americans are working
[00:02:27] working today than at any time in in the history of our country. The
[00:02:31] The poverty rate has reached its
[00:02:34] its best and lowest level in American
[00:02:37] American history, with African American American poverty, Hispanic American
[00:02:40] American poverty, Asian American American poverty, Native American
[00:02:43] American poverty rates at their best
[00:02:45] best and lowest levels ever recorded.
[00:02:49] recorded. And exports have soared
[00:02:51] soared to the highest level in American
[00:02:54] American history. That's a little
[00:02:56] little bit of President Trump there. there. During a rally. Well, this
[00:02:59] this race will play a defining role
[00:03:02] role in the trajectory of crucial
[00:03:04] crucial issues for Wall Street, including
[00:03:07] including AI data centres. The money money spent, the positioning and
[00:03:10] and US public spending in a time
[00:03:11] time when national debt is at a record
[00:03:15] record high of $40 trillion. Let's
[00:03:16] Let's talk to Janet Mui head of market
[00:03:20] market analysis at RBC Brewin Dolphin. Dolphin. Morning to you, Janet. Now
[00:03:23] Now we're reading all sorts ahead
[00:03:27] ahead of voters deciding tomorrow. tomorrow. One of the things I was
[00:03:30] was reading this morning in the Financial Financial Times was that big fund
[00:03:34] fund managers have actually switched
[00:03:35] switched to the sidelines ahead of
[00:03:38] of this election. Yes. Hi. Good morning morning Sally. Thanks for having
[00:03:41] having me. I think the thing is,
[00:03:44] is, according to the polls and according according to the betting markets,
[00:03:48] markets, the Democrats are likely
[00:03:51] likely to take both sides of the
[00:03:53] the Congress. So I think this is is a huge uncertainty that a lot
[00:03:57] lot of investors would actually like
[00:03:58] like to just step aside for now because
[00:04:02] because if we have a Democratic win
[00:04:04] win in the Congress, it means a lot
[00:04:06] lot of the ambitious spending plans
[00:04:10] plans could be on hold and debated debated and under more scrutiny.
[00:04:13] scrutiny. And I think for investors, investors, a major risk is really
[00:04:16] really about the build out of the the AI centre. If the Democrats take
[00:04:20] take control of the Congress, that that could potentially slow down
[00:04:23] down because it is facing increasing increasing scrutiny. So I guess,
[00:04:26] guess, you know, it is a I think
[00:04:29] think that the House is very likely likely to be gone. But in terms of
[00:04:33] of the Senate is really a very close
[00:04:35] close call. So I think people are
[00:04:37] are just stepping aside for now and and see what the results are. Yeah,
[00:04:41] Yeah, absolutely. And as you say, say, that's what the polls predict.
[00:04:44] predict. But as we know, as history history tells us, polls often do
[00:04:47] do get it wrong. So we'll all be
[00:04:49] be watching very closely to see what
[00:04:52] what the outcome is. If the outcome
[00:04:54] outcome is is worst case scenario scenario for President Trump and and the Republicans, what will the
[00:04:58] the reaction on markets be like?
[00:05:00] like? Do you think. I think the potential
[00:05:04] potential reaction could be initially initially negative. I think because
[00:05:07] because as I mentioned, I think the
[00:05:10] the AI build out could be more at
[00:05:13] at risk under a Democratic control control of the Congress. And as we
[00:05:16] we know, the market is all about
[00:05:18] about the AI trade. So if that is
[00:05:20] is being slowed down just a bit, bit, I think markets would be very
[00:05:24] very worried. Particularly we already already have seen quite a lot of
[00:05:28] of wobble in the AI trade. The most
[00:05:31] most recently. And of course, I think think if you're talking about fiscal
[00:05:35] fiscal spending that is very likely likely to be curtailed. The stimulus
[00:05:38] stimulus checks may not happen. So
[00:05:41] So I think that that is a concern. concern. And of course I think a
[00:05:45] a more immediate worry is that right
[00:05:47] right after the midterms we could
[00:05:49] could see strikes at Iran again because
[00:05:52] because it has been stopped because because President Trump said because
[00:05:55] because of the midterms. But it could
[00:05:58] could escalate afterwards. So again, again, that puts more immediate risk
[00:06:02] risk to market in terms of the oil oil prices. Absolutely. And I'm going
[00:06:05] going to dig a little bit deeper deeper into that in a moment with with my next guest, Janet. But let's
[00:06:09] let's just get your take on the AI AI trade at the moment, because we
[00:06:12] we saw a huge sell off at the end end of last week on Wall Street.
[00:06:15] Street. The Nasdaq at one point falling
[00:06:17] falling into correction territory.
[00:06:19] territory. We had so many of the
[00:06:21] the major high hyperscalers revealing revealing their earnings, and it
[00:06:25] it detailed enormous sums that they're
[00:06:28] they're spending and raising to finance
[00:06:30] finance AI. So will we see that concern
[00:06:33] concern continue this week? Do you
[00:06:36] you think? I think absolutely, I
[00:06:39] I think markets are in a more scrutinising
[00:06:41] scrutinising stage. Unfortunately,
[00:06:44] Unfortunately, the AI build out continues, continues, but it is at risk if the
[00:06:48] the Democratic control of the Congress.
[00:06:49] Congress. And the thing is, we are
[00:06:52] are seeing increasing debt financing
[00:06:56] financing and a lot of these hyperscalers hyperscalers are just simply losing
[00:06:59] losing their free cash flow for these these build out. We're seeing increasing
[00:07:02] increasing evidence of that. So that that scrutiny is not going to stop.
[00:07:05] stop. OK. And yeah, so so this is is going to continue for a while.
[00:07:09] while. Janet, thanks so much. Janet Janet Moy there from RBC Brewin Dolphin.
[00:07:12] Dolphin. Well, let's now focus on on the Middle East because as Janet
[00:07:15] Janet said, there's big concern about about what will happen after the
[00:07:18] the US midterm elections. Iranian Iranian negotiators were in Qatar
[00:07:22] Qatar on Sunday for a third day in in a row of talks to try and end
[00:07:26] end the US-Iran war. The Iranian Iranian foreign minister said Tehran
[00:07:29] Tehran is prepared for both defence defence and diplomacy amid growing
[00:07:33] growing concern. American and Israeli
[00:07:36] Israeli attacks could resume after after the US midterm elections. Let's
[00:07:39] Let's speak to Kate Dorian, fellow
[00:07:41] fellow at the UK at the Energy Institute
[00:07:45] Institute in the UK. Good morning
[00:07:47] morning to you, Kate. Good morning.
[00:07:50] morning. So this is a critical week week on many levels. We. We also
[00:07:52] also must mention of course we had had the Israeli elections last week
[00:07:55] week as well. So what are your thoughts thoughts on where we're headed. Well,
[00:07:59] Well, I mean the Israeli elections
[00:08:01] elections were inconclusive. So Mr
[00:08:04] Mr Netanyahu is is going to remain
[00:08:06] remain as caretaker. So and we know
[00:08:08] know what his position is. He wants
[00:08:10] wants you know, he wants Iran. He
[00:08:14] He wants more attacks against Iran. Iran. He wants regime change. But
[00:08:17] But at the same time, we're seeing seeing some diplomatic moves. Qatar
[00:08:21] Qatar obviously, is one of those those Gulf countries that was really,
[00:08:24] really, really hit hard by the closure closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:08:27] Hormuz. And, you know, because they they don't have the option to move
[00:08:31] move their tankers and export LNG,
[00:08:33] LNG, which is why we've seen such
[00:08:35] such very, very high prices for gas
[00:08:38] gas in Europe in recent weeks. They've
[00:08:40] They've come off a little bit, but
[00:08:44] but it's, you know, the market is is also bracing for the possibility
[00:08:47] possibility that after the midterm midterm elections in the US, there there may be renewed attacks against
[00:08:51] against Iran. Iran has said that
[00:08:53] that there would be no geographic geographic limits to its response.
[00:08:56] response. So, you know, we're still
[00:08:58] still in a state of no war, no peace.
[00:09:01] peace. Diplomatic efforts ongoing. ongoing. But the US doesn't seem
[00:09:04] seem to be involved. It's between between Qatar and Iran. So we just
[00:09:08] just have to wait and see. But prices prices have come off on, on expectations
[00:09:11] expectations that there may be a a diplomatic solution. Yeah. On the
[00:09:15] the hope so a bit more positive than than negative today. But in the meantime,
[00:09:18] meantime, in Saudi Arabia, the attacks
[00:09:20] attacks continues. The Iran backed
[00:09:23] backed Houthis in Yemen continue
[00:09:25] continue to target Saudi Arabia, Arabia, and that is ongoing, isn't
[00:09:28] isn't it? Despite all the efforts
[00:09:30] efforts to end that war that we heard
[00:09:34] heard from the internationally backed backed government of Yemen? Well, Well, exactly. Yes. You've seen attacks.
[00:09:37] attacks. I mean, the Red Sea, the
[00:09:41] the route out of the Red Sea in, in, in the south, the Bab el Mandeb
[00:09:44] Mandeb is still under the control control of the Houthis. So Saudi
[00:09:47] Saudi Arabia is shipping more crude crude through the Strait of Hormuz,
[00:09:50] Hormuz, which is quite risky because because you have to. And it's also
[00:09:54] also a costly exercise because you you need two tankers to conduct these
[00:09:57] these ship to ship transfers and
[00:10:01] and then through Bab el Mandeb. If If you can't go through the south, south, you have to go through the
[00:10:05] the north, through the Suez Canal, Canal, which means going round the
[00:10:07] the Horn of Africa because the main
[00:10:09] main market is in Asia. So that ties ties up your tankers, which is why
[00:10:13] why we're seeing very high freight freight rates. We're seeing high
[00:10:16] high insurance rates and we're seeing
[00:10:17] seeing a shortage of refined fuels,
[00:10:20] fuels, like diesel, which is much
[00:10:24] much higher than oil than crude oil. oil. So that's why, you know, if
[00:10:28] if you look at just the price of of oil futures, it doesn't really
[00:10:31] really reflect the realities of the
[00:10:33] the market. And just quickly, Kate,
[00:10:36] Kate, if President Trump was to lose lose majorities in both the House
[00:10:39] House of Representatives and the
[00:10:42] the Senate, what do you think might
[00:10:44] might be his next move when it comes
[00:10:47] comes to this war? Well, I don't
[00:10:49] don't think he's really consulted
[00:10:51] consulted the House you know, he's
[00:10:53] he's he I don't he didn't go to,
[00:10:56] to, to the house to seek permission permission for the war. I don't think
[00:11:00] think it's going to change anything. anything. I think he will challenge
[00:11:03] challenge any outcome that he doesn't doesn't like as he's done in the
[00:11:06] the past. And I don't think it's it's really going to have an impact
[00:11:09] impact on. On his foreign policy.
[00:11:12] policy. So I don't expect that it'll it'll be all right. Kate, we appreciate
[00:11:16] appreciate your time and let's see see what this week brings. Thank Thank you so much for talking to
[00:11:20] to us this morning, Kate. Dorian Dorian there from the Energy Institute
[00:11:23] Institute in the UK. Now let's bring bring you some of the day's other
[00:11:27] other business stories. The BBC understands understands that Virgin Media O2
[00:11:30] O2 is to announce plans later this this week for thousands of job cuts.
[00:11:34] cuts. The exact details are yet to
[00:11:35] to be finalised but the firm, which
[00:11:38] which employs 16,000 people, is also also expected to halt investment
[00:11:41] investment in its fibre network as as investors raise concerns about
[00:11:44] about its debt of more than £20 billion.
[00:11:48] billion. The Opec+ group of oil producing producing countries agreed to keep
[00:11:52] keep December production targets targets steady at their meeting on
[00:11:55] on Sunday. The oil cartel that includes
[00:11:57] includes Saudi Arabia, Russia and and Iraq confirmed that no further
[00:12:01] further policy adjustments will occur occur until next year as the group
[00:12:05] group continues to struggle with with export disruptions from the
[00:12:08] the Iran war and still to come calling
[00:12:12] calling for an AI slowdown. The BBC
[00:12:14] BBC speaks to the boss of Signal
[00:12:18] Signal around the world and across
[00:12:19] across the UK. This is BBC News.
[00:13:19] MUSIC
[00:13:31] This is Business Today on BBC
[00:13:33] News. Investors have withdrawn over
[00:13:36] over $3 billion worth of assets from from Binance after the world's largest
[00:13:40] largest cryptocurrency exchange came came back online on Sunday following
[00:13:44] following a huge hack. Binance says
[00:13:47] says withdrawals were stabilising stabilising after an initial spike
[00:13:49] spike and that deposit volumes remained
[00:13:52] remained substantial. The exchange
[00:13:54] exchange says it has covered around
[00:13:57] around 95% of the $6.3 billion taken taken in what is suspected to be
[00:14:01] be crypto's biggest hack on record record last week, saying it will
[00:14:05] will absorb the financial impact,
[00:14:07] impact, not its users. Over the weekend,
[00:14:09] weekend, the FBI said that North North Korea was responsible for the
[00:14:13] the attack. Well, let's talk to Alice
[00:14:14] Alice Taylor. Digital forensics researcher researcher at Oxford Information
[00:14:18] Information Labs. Morning, Alice. Alice. Morning. No surprise to hear
[00:14:22] hear that people were quick to withdraw
[00:14:24] withdraw their funds. Yes. As you
[00:14:28] you said, it's been about 3.6 billion.
[00:14:32] billion. And this is quite a critical critical moment of sort of is this
[00:14:36] this a turning point for cryptocurrency cryptocurrency generally? It is quite
[00:14:40] quite remarkable, though, that Binance Binance have managed to cover 90%
[00:14:43] 90% of the losses already and have have said they're committed to making
[00:14:46] making up that final 10% as well. well. And they're saying they're
[00:14:49] they're going to absorb the final,
[00:14:52] final, the financial impact. I just
[00:14:54] just wonder what that means for Binance Binance going forward, whether people
[00:14:57] people will actually think, you know,
[00:15:00] know, what is this a safe place to
[00:15:02] to do business or not? We see this
[00:15:04] this a lot with cyber attacks. You
[00:15:07] You know, like with Land Rover Ranger
[00:15:10] Ranger and with M and S and more
[00:15:12] more recently with Asos, there is
[00:15:14] is this huge impact of just sort
[00:15:18] sort of like reputational damage
[00:15:20] damage really of people losing confidence
[00:15:23] confidence and obviously with a cryptocurrency cryptocurrency exchange, it's so
[00:15:26] so obvious to see, you know, the
[00:15:29] the impact of that kind of lack of
[00:15:32] of confidence. And a lot of people
[00:15:35] people are sort of questioning, you you know, like is the FBI have now
[00:15:39] now linked the cyber attack to North North Korea. So it is definitive definitive and they've said that
[00:15:42] that very clearly. It's not just just sort of knowledge from private
[00:15:46] private research companies. They're They're sort of saying is cryptocurrency
[00:15:48] cryptocurrency now just kind of like
[00:15:50] like a funnel for North Korean state
[00:15:54] state sanctioned warfare? I think
[00:15:56] think this is definitely a moment moment of reflection for cryptocurrency
[00:16:00] cryptocurrency generally. In terms
[00:16:03] terms of Binance reaction to this,
[00:16:06] this, were you impressed with their their speed of reaction, their immediate
[00:16:10] immediate reassurance to those who'd who'd lost money that they would would get it back, that they would
[00:16:13] would cover that cost? And your thoughts?
[00:16:17] thoughts? I think what is a very very notable story is, you know,
[00:16:21] know, 3 billion was stolen, 3 billion billion was frozen. And this is a
[00:16:24] a great example of when there's that that collective response and everybody
[00:16:28] everybody sort of working together together with real time threat intelligence,
[00:16:32] intelligence, you know, steps can can be taken that are actually, you
[00:16:36] you know, like meaningful. I think think it is also remarkable that
[00:16:39] that they've, you know, covered 90%
[00:16:41] 90% of the losses. And I think it's
[00:16:45] it's I have seen a lot online of
[00:16:48] of sort of when you use when you you do your investment in a thing
[00:16:51] thing that's sort of like, screw screw you guys, we don't want any
[00:16:55] any independent point of control control or regulations. And then
[00:16:59] then suddenly the no independent independent point of control or regulations
[00:17:02] regulations are actually a very negative
[00:17:03] negative thing. I mean, cryptocurrency cryptocurrency is high risk, high
[00:17:07] high reward for lots of people. And
[00:17:09] And as I said, this is sort of a
[00:17:11] a moment of reflection and sort of of thinking about possibly regulation.
[00:17:15] regulation. OK, Alice, thanks so so much for giving us your reaction
[00:17:18] reaction to the latest there on Binance Binance Alice Taylor there from Oxford
[00:17:21] Oxford Information Labs. Well, let's
[00:17:23] let's talk about AI safety now. Meredith
[00:17:26] Meredith Whittaker is the boss of of the Signal Foundation, which runs
[00:17:30] runs the encrypted messaging app app signal. She's a former AI researcher
[00:17:34] researcher at Google and is calling calling for its development. That's
[00:17:37] That's artificial intelligence to
[00:17:38] to be slowed down. She spoke to our
[00:17:43] our reporter Megha Mohan. The risk
[00:17:44] risk is very real, but it's not the
[00:17:47] the shiny ghost stories that the
[00:17:50] the wild eyed boys are telling us
[00:17:52] us right now. AI doom is dominating
[00:17:55] dominating the headlines, but the
[00:17:57] the President of signal, the encrypted encrypted messaging app and one of
[00:18:01] of the most influential women in
[00:18:03] in the space, is telling us to slow
[00:18:06] slow down. You would have to draw
[00:18:08] draw back on a lot of this. You would
[00:18:10] would have to put measures in place
[00:18:12] place that slow things down, that
[00:18:14] that leave room for judgement, that
[00:18:17] that allow institutions and experts experts to say AI is not appropriate
[00:18:20] appropriate here. We should be insisting
[00:18:24] insisting on robust engineering, engineering, robust technical practices,
[00:18:27] practices, all of which slow down down markets, all of which might
[00:18:31] might affect valuations. Meredith
[00:18:34] Meredith Whittaker leads signal a a messaging app built. Around privacy
[00:18:38] privacy as a core tenet with an estimated
[00:18:42] estimated 40 to 70 million users. users. When you and I are talking
[00:18:45] talking on signal only, you and I
[00:18:48] I can read that messages. We live
[00:18:50] live in a world where almost everything
[00:18:53] everything we do, our connections, connections, our communities, our
[00:18:56] our locations, our preferences, our
[00:19:00] our communications are surveilled surveilled and logged by a handful
[00:19:03] handful of companies that use them them to sell ads that can give them
[00:19:05] them to governments that are picked
[00:19:07] picked up by data brokers, sold to
[00:19:11] to ideological fringe groups. Around
[00:19:14] Around 2017. Whitaker gained public
[00:19:18] public recognition as a co-organizer
[00:19:19] co-organizer of the Google walkout.
[00:19:22] walkout. Hey Cover ups have got to go. Which
[00:19:26] saw more than 20,000 employees and
[00:19:29] and contractors take part. A former
[00:19:32] former AI researcher at Google, she
[00:19:34] she had raised concerns about the
[00:19:36] the ethical risks of AI systems, systems, including their potential
[00:19:40] potential use in military applications.
[00:19:42] applications. I was alarmed by this.
[00:19:45] this. This is going to supercharge supercharge mistakes. This is going
[00:19:49] going to launder bad intelligence intelligence and bad data. This is
[00:19:51] is going to paint a veneer of objectivity
[00:19:55] objectivity and intelligence on systems systems that are basically just sort
[00:19:58] sort of, you know, drawing on the the same bad Intel that we've always
[00:20:01] always had access to. Whitaker and
[00:20:04] and apps such as signal face criticism
[00:20:06] criticism of their own. Not everyone
[00:20:09] everyone supports absolute privacy. privacy. This year, the UK government
[00:20:13] government said encrypted messaging messaging apps could face restrictions
[00:20:17] restrictions as part of efforts to
[00:20:19] to tackle child abuse and the sharing
[00:20:21] sharing of explicit imagery. Private
[00:20:24] Private communication. Is a fundamental
[00:20:26] fundamental human right for a reason reason and you undermine end to end
[00:20:30] end encryption in one point and you
[00:20:32] you poisoned it for everyone. It
[00:20:35] It no longer protects anyone. If
[00:20:37] If you and. I talk in five years'
[00:20:41] years' time, what is the what kind kind of conversation do you hope
[00:20:45] hope that we'll be having. Right Right now? Our visions are being
[00:20:47] being written by people whose motivations motivations are often aligned with
[00:20:51] with the profit and growth of a very
[00:20:53] very narrow industry. Products and
[00:20:57] and technologies should not be dominating dominating the vision for what it
[00:21:00] it looks like to move forward as
[00:21:03] as a human population. Really interesting
[00:21:07] interesting to hear from Meredith Meredith Whittaker there. President
[00:21:10] President of the Signal Foundation. Foundation. Now on to something that
[00:21:14] that more and more of us may be feeling
[00:21:17] feeling or experiencing in the workplace.
[00:21:19] workplace. And I'm talking about about stress and that might be at
[00:21:23] at high levels because of fast changing
[00:21:27] changing technological things that that are going on in your workplace.
[00:21:30] workplace. It could be because of
[00:21:33] of financial pressures and restructuring
[00:21:35] restructuring where you work or concern concern about employment going forward.
[00:21:38] forward. There's lots of reasons reasons why we may be stressed in
[00:21:42] in the workplace and left unaddressed. unaddressed. It can affect your health
[00:21:45] health and wellbeing. It can increase
[00:21:48] increase sickness absence and it
[00:21:50] it impacts performance and productivity. productivity. Well, the good news
[00:21:53] news is understanding the causes causes and taking practical steps
[00:21:57] steps to address them. Employers
[00:21:59] Employers can help create healthier,
[00:22:02] healthier, less stressful workplaces. workplaces. Well, let's talk to Nick
[00:22:05] Nick Propper, who's a human performance performance expert, who's trained trained people working in some of
[00:22:09] of the most high pressure environments environments in the world from the
[00:22:13] the US Air Force to the sales floors
[00:22:15] floors at Goldman Sachs. Morning Morning to you, Nick. Hi, Sally.
[00:22:19] Sally. How are you? I'm very well.
[00:22:22] well. I'm a little bit stressed, stressed, if I'm honest, because
[00:22:24] because of what I do, but I'm pretty pretty good. But Nick, part of the
[00:22:28] the reason we're talking about this
[00:22:30] this morning is because it is international
[00:22:34] international Stress Awareness Week. Week. When you're with those who
[00:22:37] who are in the US Air Force or those those who work at Goldman Sachs or
[00:22:40] or others in very high pressured pressured environments, what do you
[00:22:43] you tell them? I think the first
[00:22:46] first thing is to stop demonising demonising stress. Stress in and
[00:22:49] and of itself actually is is not not the issue. And the avoidance
[00:22:53] avoidance of stress certainly isn't isn't the answer. But stress in the
[00:22:57] the absence of recovery does become
[00:22:59] become problematic. So the main message message is we need the stress that
[00:23:02] that actually creates the opportunity opportunity to optimise performance.
[00:23:06] performance. The opportunity for for us to grow as humans. But we
[00:23:09] we also have to pay attention to to where the growth happens and the
[00:23:13] the growth happens in the recovery recovery phase. And that's the part
[00:23:16] part that's missing for most people people in business. And candidly,
[00:23:20] candidly, most people out there trying trying to do hard things, whatever
[00:23:23] whatever the endeavour. Is it true
[00:23:24] true to say, Nick, that currently
[00:23:27] currently stress levels are higher
[00:23:30] higher in any in any work environment, environment, partly because of just just what's going on in the world?
[00:23:34] world? Something that I'm talking talking about in my workplace all
[00:23:37] all the time. The concern about what's
[00:23:40] what's happening in, in the Middle Middle East, in, in, in countries
[00:23:44] countries across Europe. And we saw saw very a lot of stress across Europe
[00:23:47] Europe over the weekend where we we saw riots in Germany and France
[00:23:51] France and protests and all
[00:23:56] sorts. Yeah. And I think this is is really an issue of what we would would call locus of control when
[00:23:59] when we talk about these stressors. stressors. So that's an important
[00:24:02] important word. The stressor is the
[00:24:04] the thing that's delivering the stress stress to the individual. We often
[00:24:08] often talk about them in very big big kind of macro descriptions like
[00:24:12] like what's happening in the Middle Middle East, what's happening in
[00:24:14] in my company, the brain fundamentally fundamentally doesn't like that because
[00:24:17] because it feels like it has no control.
[00:24:20] control. We're just reacting to whatever whatever this thing is going to do
[00:24:23] do to us. So so for example, what what we need to do in those situations
[00:24:26] situations is start to pay attention attention to what we can control.
[00:24:30] control. And that shifts the locus locus from external to internal.
[00:24:33] internal. Now I'm going to decide decide how I interact with this situation,
[00:24:37] situation, however big, however complex, complex, I'm going to do it on my
[00:24:41] my terms and that calms the psychology psychology down. And that then in
[00:24:44] in turn calms off physiology down, down, which is very important in
[00:24:47] in our ability to sustain our performance performance without getting exhausted,
[00:24:51] exhausted, overwhelmed or burning
[00:24:52] burning out. As you said, Nick, mental
[00:24:56] mental health and mental wellbeing wellbeing and reducing stress was
[00:24:59] was something that was, was not talked talked about until more recently.
[00:25:03] recently. Are we better at dealing dealing with it? Do you think? I
[00:25:07] I think we're on the way. That's That's why we do the work we do.
[00:25:10] do. That's why we've now taken the the book of our work, Stress Self
[00:25:13] Self to best self out into the world world so that anybody anywhere can
[00:25:16] can get access to it. I think the the first thing is we have to recognise
[00:25:20] recognise our stress warning signs. signs. We've all we've got very good
[00:25:24] good at ignoring the way the body body is communicating with us, that
[00:25:27] that we are starting to experience experience stress. That's kind of
[00:25:29] of problem number one. So we have have to just learn what it looks
[00:25:32] looks like for us to be under stress, stress, whether that's a physical
[00:25:36] physical response, a mental response response that can be us getting hyper
[00:25:40] hyper distracted or hyper focused. focused. And those emotional responses
[00:25:43] responses anxiety, fear, being combative,
[00:25:47] combative, that's just useful information. information. And we do have to start start paying attention to that. And
[00:25:50] And then we've got to say what happens happens next. And the thing we need
[00:25:53] need to do next is almost often, often, you know, do something in
[00:25:57] in the heat of the moment to hold hold our performance level whilst
[00:26:00] whilst we're dealing with this stress. stress. And we can do that with something
[00:26:04] something called the challenge response, response, which is all right, labelling
[00:26:07] labelling emotion out of time. Which Which means my stress levels are are high. We're going to have to
[00:26:11] to say goodbye. Sorry to Nick to to cut him off. Nick Propper there
[00:26:14] there on stress. MUSIC
[00:29:00] MUSIC
[00:29:13] Being able to inspire someone
[00:29:15] is always the greatest joy. I saw saw Kisa one time, she said Grammys
[00:29:19] Grammys and she said that she studied studied some of my songs for the
[00:29:21] the songwriting, and I thought that that that was the biggest compliment
[00:29:25] compliment ever. States. ...
[00:29:35] MUSIC
[00:29:40] My support for Ukraine is unwavering.
[00:29:45] unwavering. It is 100%. When the
[00:29:46] the big names talk, they talk to
[00:29:49] to us.
[00:30:13] Live from London. This is BBC
[00:30:16] News. Ukraine's alert app could have
[00:30:19] have been compromised as residents residents report receiving false
[00:30:23] false notifications about a radiological radiological threat, a chemical attack
[00:30:25] attack and even a message about possible
[00:30:27] possible street fighting in Kyiv.
[00:30:30] Kyiv. Just one day to go before the the midterm elections. With last
[00:30:33] last minute twists in the race to to get a majority in Congress and
[00:30:37] and maybe the Senate, the King will
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[00:30:46] transatlantic slave trade, Italian Italian driver Kimi Antonelli makes
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[00:30:57] and in Business Today, Binance users