There’s a guy in Los Angeles right now about to take his lunch break, phone in one hand and a sandwich in the other.

He tells his phone to sort his inbox, book a table for dinner on Friday, and find an inflatable pool toy for the kids to play with that will arrive by the weekend.

It does all three, asking for the OK before actually buying anything.

Now try that on the train into London during the morning commute.

You’ll quickly discover that the app that does it all seamlessly isn’t even available in the UK…

The app is Muse, Meta’s new AI agent. It launched in the US and Canada a few weeks ago… and it’s blowing the market away.

In its first 12 days it racked up 1.8 million iOS downloads across the two countries. To put into perspective how big a deal that is, ChatGPT managed 1.3 million in its first 12 days.

There’s now a growing chorus of people suggesting that Muse might become the most widely used consumer AI application since ChatGPT. Maybe even the most important consumer AI app we’ve ever seen.

Yet, on Tuesday, Britain’s Prime Minister, Andy “The Everyman” Burnham stood at the UN General Assembly in New York and made the case for reining it all in.

You had one job, Andy

A Prime Minister has one job: to leave the country stronger and richer than they found it, with a lighter load on the people who pay for it.

The biggest shot Britain has at that this century is to become the AI hub of the world outside America.

Yet the PM went to New York to talk about slamming on the brakes:

We’ve all heard the warnings – which we must heed. I know how worried people are. So we have to rise to this moment.

That’s a man telling world leaders he’s afraid to lead.

A man who has zero consideration for the opportunity that’s right in front of him.

He wants to use Britain’s G20 presidency next year, with a summit in Manchester, to agree “a single set of global principles and standards” for AI. Sounds all very “EU” if you ask me.

Meanwhile, hours earlier, from the same lectern, President Trump said the US “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme” to control AI.

“We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in,” he added.

Say what you want about Trump, love him or hate him, but he’s putting America first… and be damned what anyone else wants to do.

It’s baffling to understand why a new PM isn’t hell-bent on putting the UK first. “Principles and standards” is more like he’s toeing the line of other string-pullers rather than committing the UK to leading the AI revolution.

Sure, it’s far too late now to surpass the Americans, who build most of the models, compute, and the semiconductors for the AI build out.

But even then, it’s not too late to make AI a massive part of Britain’s future growth.

Or maybe it’s all too late now because of politics that get in the way of the prosperity of the nation…

Speaking of…

Yesterday I asked for your thoughts on our immigration crisis. I enjoyed reading all the emails. The consensus is that Britain is in deep trouble (one or two complained I was cherry picking my data and I should stick to talking about investing). Thanks to all who responded.

What are your thoughts on Burnham’s comments to the UN General Assembly in New York?

Do you agree with him?

Disagree with him?

Want the hell out of Britain because it’s such a mess?

Let me know at feedback@southbankresearch.com.

Waving goodbye to wealth at Heathrow

OpenAI’s Stargate UK was meant to start with 8,000 GPUs at Cobalt Park in North Tyneside, built with Nscale and Nvidia.

Then OpenAI bailed.

In April it paused the project, saying it would only go ahead:

… when the right conditions such as regulation and the cost of energy enable long-term infrastructure investment.

I’m not sure how much clearer they could be that things in Britain need to change.

As I explained yesterday, British industry paid 26.63p a kilowatt hour for electricity in 2024, the highest of 25 countries reporting to the International Energy Agency.

Nscale has also had enough.

Last Friday the London company filed to list in New York, not London.

This failure to retain homegrown opportunities should be making headline news.

It’s not.

We’ve seen this play out time and time again over the last decade of decline.

Google bought DeepMind for £400m in 2014.

Arm skipped London and floated on Nasdaq at US$51 a share in September 2023. It now trades at US$333 and has become a US$355 billion juggernaut.

A US$355 billion company built in Cambridge with America retaining the net benefit.

Good job Westminster…

Which country invented the World Wide Web?


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Britain isn’t short of brains or talent. But it provides no reason for them to stay on domestic shores.

If Britain fails to be GREAT Britain again, it won’t be for lack of opportunity.

It will be fear.

Fear of strength… fear of offending… and fear of success.

Until next time,


Sam Volkering
Investment Director, Southbank Investment Research

PS AI isn’t the only enormous opportunity Britain risks letting slip through its fingers. There’s potentially £45 trillion worth of oil sitting in British territory – a resource that could transform the country’s energy future if Westminster allows it to be developed. And there’s one company I think could be particularly well placed to profit if drilling gets the green light.

I’ll give you the ticker – and show you exactly why I’m watching it – here.