The Lang Cat

Hi everyone, it’s Rich Mayor reporting for duty this week after fellow compatriot, Mike, did the honours last week. Next week will be Alison, or maybe Steve, which feels perilous for the English contingent of the lang cat. The rest of the office folks North of the Wall have been reeling from their fourth exit from the World Cup and a fifth might be the final straw for the Anyone But England camp. I watched the Norway game at my local.

Who remembers the ‘Consumer Friendly Principles and Practices of Financial Management’, otherwise known as the ‘CFPPFM’? No? Intended to improve the information people received about with-profits life policies, they were introduced in 2004. They were then discontinued in 2016 when it was established that virtually no one read them, and those who did, didn’t understand them. And this kind of problem is only going to get worse.

Greetings – Mike here. Mark is currently residing in the home of losing finalists France, so throughout July you’ll be treated to a range of guest felines. My turn for week one… Lots of AI chat this week, with the publication of the FCA’s Mills Review into the impact of AI on retail financial services, launched at an event in London. As you would expect for such an important event the FCA needed to find a suitably cool and trendy venue, so naturally they chose one we had occupied two weeks ago.

Hello. The finfluencers are at it again. You might remember I was a bit put out at one who felt that documenting their attempts to achieve their super niche goal has earned them the right, in the form of a paid advertisement, to imply you will only ever need a no commission platform and to further imply any platform charging consumers any form of fees is tantamount to theft.

Hello again, and as temperatures once again climb in exactly the same way that Scottish football hopes don’t, it’s almost time for me and pretty much all other Scots with school age kids to head for the hills. We might not be great at remembering not to aimlessly kick a ball around in front of our own goal when Vini Jr is hooning down on us at a rate of knots, but we do get to go on cheap summer holidays. So there’s that.

Hello. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

We have just won the HeadlineMoney award for PR Agency of the Year 2026 – the second time we’ve won in three years. And we couldn’t be more proud. A couple of things make this award possible. First of all, the support of the wider consultancy, insight and research team which, together with the market data powered by our Analyser software, underpin much of our output. But a particular thank you must go to the amazing comms and PR team who continue to knock it out of the park.

What. A. Day. This time nothing to do with the ridiculous weather – in our gloriously air-conditioned bubble it did not matter. Catwalk 2026 went ahead and we were amazed to have an almost full house of tech-savvy enthusiasts ready to vote for their favourite.

Happy heatwave, siblings. As I write this on Wednesday morning I believe those of you in the melty South are heading for a 35 degree day, and if that’s you I encourage you to find somewhere with aircon – somewhere that already has it, let’s not go on a planet-smashing journey for the sake of a few hot days – and water and iced coffee. I’ll come back to that. And if you can’t find that, find somewhere with a nice pool and get in it instantly.

Hello. Last Tuesday was Bloomsday. For those not in the know, 16 June is the date in which the events written out by James Joyce in his notable novel Ulysses take place. It gets its name from advertising salesman and protagonist Leopold Bloom. What’s the significance? Well besides a lot of oddbods doing a lot of weird and wonderful things, dressed up in Edwardian costumes it’s just another day. And really, what could fit that better?