So this is quizmas: our inaugural holiday face-off

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1:31The Economist

1:37Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. Most weekdays we're doing that thing with perspectives and events and shaping. Today, dear listeners, we're doing something very different.

1:56See, on the whole, we here at The Economist are big into quizzes. Over the years, we've had some staff who in their off time were real quiz champions. You can see how much we love this stuff in our app. With our weekly news quiz, a crossword both cryptic and standard, our dateline quiz on news history, it goes on. We are, in a word, quizzical. So for today's show, we're indulging that inclination in a big way. Welcome to our first annual end-of-year quiz show. Can I get a gong or something here?

2:28Right, before we begin, some introductions are needed. First, we have Rajna Shanbog, our business affairs editor, alongside Alex Hearn, our resident AI expert. They will be competing as one team. And you guys have come, I think, with a team name. What is it? Of course we have, Jason. We are called the Jason Palmer Fan Club. This is not an attempt to curry favor with our esteemed quiz master. I cry foul. Right. Wait, while we write that down. Bit of a mouthful. JPFC. Right, we'll go with that. JPFC. Right, there is your buzzer. You want to test it out? There we go. Team two, we have Tom Lee Devlin, business section editor, and Adam Roberts, the editor of all things digital.

3:09Good day, sirs. Your team name? Well, we've spent a long time thinking this through. Days and days of effort have gone into it. We decided to go with the low bar, because we think we might be able to just about get over it. The low bar. Singular, not the low bars, which is a musical outfit. Sounds like a non-alcoholic cocktail bar. Right, and you have a buzzer there. Test it out. Hang on, I gotta get the door. Right, so before we get started, I will briefly outline the parameters of the game. It's going to be in three sections. First, we deal with the hard news of the year, politics, wars, AI job apocalypse, all that sort of thing, and then the sort of fluffier bits of global happenings, and then a secret third section that shall be revealed in due course.

3:56Right, questions will mostly be asked by me, but we have some that have been sent in by our lovely colleagues. Each question is worth one point. Once the question is asked, the first team to sound their buzzer will have a chance to respond. If they get it wrong, the opposing team can have a go. Any disputes will be resolved by our two judges there in the control room. Hello, judges. All of the answers appeared in Economist articles this year. Are you ready?

4:29Right, here we go. People the world over are facing a cost-of-living crisis? The inflated price of what product ultimately led to the ouster of a Japanese cabinet mystery? Rice. The answer is indeed rice. Chalk that up to the JPFC. Agriculture Minister Tako Eto was forced to resign after making an offhand comment at a fundraiser that he had, quote, never had to buy rice, thanks to gifts from supporters. Meanwhile, the cost of the Japanese staple has increased by 100 % since the beginning of 2024. I just want to say I was very impressed with the ninja speed with which Alex... Yeah, no, you were just a blur.

5:06I was also slightly disappointed it wasn't the editor of the business affairs section. I was getting there, I was getting there. As someone who buys imported Japanese rice to eat in the UK, it has hit my pocketbook. It's high-quality rice. Yeah, I feel like that has to be expanded upon. What else to say? It's some of the best rice in the world that I buy by the sack. Tell, how heavy is your sack? Five kilos normally. Crossing a head! Did you go on holiday to take you this year? Last year. No, two years ago. Did you fill your pockets on the way home? Takes two empty suitcases with him every time.

5:42All right, moving on. In February, Donald Trump posted a video to Truth Social that was generated by AI, which you can hear now.

5:55It showed the Gaza Strip remade with real estate developments, beachfront resorts, and Elon Musk smiling and eating hummus. His suggested answer to the horrific war in Gaza at the time was the eviction of all Palestinians, a full American takeover of the enclave. What did Trump propose it be called? JPFC. Was it the Riviera? Oh, something Riviera. The Gaza Riviera. Our judges say no. Would you like to have a go, low bar? Well, I think Riviera was part of this, but it was the what Riviera? How about the new Riviera? Let's do the new Riviera. I'm afraid not it was Riviera of the Middle East. Oh, come on!

6:40Come on. Palestinians, he said, could not live in a demolition site of Gaza. Better for other countries to, quote, open their hearts, take them in and resettle them in new communities. It was actually quite a catchy song. I was impressed by the AI. OK. Now for our first guest question. Play it in, please, judges. Hi, everyone. Su Lin here. I'm the host of Scam Inc. and based in Singapore. This year, I've been covering the rise of online scams. So I hope this question isn't too tricky, given fraudsters don't publish quarterly reports, but approximately how much does the global scam industry steal from victims all around the world each year?

7:20Low bar. I think it's absolutely enormous. It's something like$10 trillion. No, no, no. JPFC, would you like to have a go? I was going more for$47 billion. Okay. Somewhere in between, presumably. A trillion. Somewhere in between. $500 billion, though it's an estimate, of course, assumed probably to be above that figure, but maybe not like 10 trillion. I know. In retrospect, that is kind of like global GDP. Twice the GDP. Too much in many ways. Pressing ahead, pressing ahead. Judges say yes. For the next feature of our quiz, many of you will know this, that instead of asking the old boring radio podcast question of what did you have for breakfast when we're setting levels, I often ask guests to come up with a bawdy limerick.

8:12Sometimes I really get more than I asked for. So I have crafted one for this question. What you're going to do is tell me what this limerick is about, a big economist story from this year. Once all the knowledge was biblical, then GPUs reached their pinnacle. Now creepy tech dudes offer access to nudes, but all of the stimulation is digital. Is that the rise of AI porn? Yes! Yes. One point. Scores are tied. But we should give some appreciation to that limerick. That was very, very well crafted. Ah, but I thought the answer was... No, absolutely not. On a somewhat related note, which country on July 1st criminalized paying for live porn on sites such as OnlyFans?

8:54Sweden. Sweden is correct, JPFC. For our next guest question, play it in, judges. Hello, this is Ethan Wu, host of Money Talks in Singapore. My question is, there's one Southeast Asian leader who had a phone call with Donald Trump on April 4th, just two days after the Liberation Day tariffs. Who was it? JPFC. Was it Tholam of Vietnam? Yes! Nailed it! That is correct. General Secretary Tholam of Vietnam. The Southeast Asian nation... Hey, hey. Keep it down. Sorry, Dad. The Southeast Asian nation was slapped with alarmingly high tariffs of 46 % in retaliation for the country's$123 billion trade surplus in goods with America.

9:40Next question. Which CEO proudly declared, other shareholders' meetings are like snooze fests. Ours are... Right, low bar. That was Elon Musk. It was Elon Musk. Boy, you guys have been following the Elon Musk stuff closely. Okay, we're going to have to make this harder. In May, 69-year-old Friedrich Merz won Germany's chancellorship after a nail-biter second round of ballots were cast by parliamentarians. I see twitching hands already. In the run-up to the election, Mr. Merz addressed voters directly on his blog. What did he call his posts? I don't think I ever knew this one. Honestly, I've got absolutely no idea.

10:20Merzivs? Ooh, a fun guess. I don't know if it's a pun that works in German. No? Low bar, would you like to? Well, what about a play on his first name, since they went for his second name?

10:36Freed males. Yes, let's do all that. Freed males. The correct answer is Merzmale. Merzmale. I got both halves in two separate answers. Even though it doesn't do ourselves any favour, surely they get something for that. I'm appealing to the judges for half points. The judges are not in a giving mood. That is not the spirit of the season, judges. We're clearly not here to have fun, I realize. We're here to follow the rules and play a quiz. Right. Let's get serious again and play in another guest question. Hey guys, it's Stevie Hertz, the US policy correspondent. This year saw President Donald Trump do, or try to do, a lot of policy by executive order, including signing 26 orders on his first day back in office.

11:26Which of those executive orders signed on day one was called, quote, blatantly unconstitutional by a federal district court judge just three days later? JPFC. Ban on birthright citizenship? Correct! Nice. JPFC pulling very much into the lead. They're very quick on the trigger. That is correct. The order seeking to end birthright citizenship, the guarantee of citizenship to almost everyone born in America. The ruling blocked the order which, unsurprisingly, the Trump administration has appealed. The Supreme Court is now deciding whether or not to hear the case. Klarna and Affirm lead the way on this new financial...

12:05It was going to be a nail-biter, that one. The low bar? Buy now, pay later. Buy now, pay later financing. It's estimated that BNPL, as those in the know call it, now accounts for$342 billion in spending around the world, up from just over$2 billion a decade ago. So not quite as big as the scam industry. at$10 trillion. They will soon join forces, and it's going to be enormous. Scam now, pay later. By the way. Right, another guest question, please. Hi, I'm Avantika Chulkoti, global business correspondent at The Economist. This year, I wrote a piece about a big listed firm that has lost 6 % of its shares.

12:44That's$15 billion of shares that are missing. Which company was it? A few hints. is European, family-run, and makes very, very nice Christmas presents.

13:02Unsportsmanlike behavior in the studio. I believe that JPFC got there first, but only just. It was very close shave. Hermes. Hermes is correct. Its founder, Nicolas Pouche, was the largest individual shareholder, with nearly 6 % of the company, a stake that would now be worth 13 billion euros or 15 billion dollars. But it's gone missing. If you missed that piece, find that long read in our sister magazine, 1843. Okay, fingers on buzzers. Oil exports have long been a mainstay of Iran's sanctions-hampered economy. In order to try and keep revenues up, they've begun choosing their exports of something else.

13:39Wow, it was, I just want you to know before you answer, a multiple choice question, but I see you don't need that help. We had to be quick because you two are so fast on the buses. So I now have to try and do this without the multiple choice. Yes, low bar, raise the bar. I think we're talking about agricultural products here. We're talking about vegetables. Is the correct answer. Iran now supplies nine out of ten cauliflowers, tomatoes and watermelons imported by the United Arab Emirates, a near monopoly they've built in just a few years. Very good. Cauliflower. Just cauliflower I would have accepted.

14:09What were the range of options? Pianos, cauliflowers and microchips. I mean... Even I would have got it after that. Right, next question. This year in reference to Trump's tariff wars, we talked a great deal about the protectionist Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s that worsened the Great Depression. Which US president implemented that regime? Oh, no, I don't actually know.

14:35I think it was before Roosevelt, so I think... Hoover before Roosevelt. I think it's Hoover, yeah. Let's see Hoover. Final answer, Hoover. Hoover is correct. Yes! I knew that was what you were trying to bring in. To each other. Right. Exciting stuff. That is the end of round one, and I'm looking at our high-tech scoreboard. Low bar, you have five points. JPFC, five points. Exciting stuff. You got off to a good start, but you're beginning to lose it, I think. Right. So, for those of you at home, we have to take a quick break for the ads, but I'm going to leave you with a specific question to the intelligence to marinate on.

15:14We often have a bit of pun fun with our show titles. I'm going to read you three pun titles. You tell me which of them was not a real show title this year. One, Your Peace or Mine. Two, It's Not the Heat, It's the Morbidity. Or three, Liberté, Égalité, Désordre.

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16:12If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. member FDIC.

16:40All right, the answer to the pre-break question was number two, it's not the heat, it's the morbidity. It was a proposed title for our episode where Deputy Editor Robert Guest reported on the rise of malaria in a warming world. The title we chose instead, that warm, buzzy feeling.

16:59Yes. Right, so going into round two, we have a nail-biting tie. So, on we go. This time, not the hard news stuff. We're going to have a little bit more fun, just a bit. This year, we reported on the comeback of a comedian exiled from his home country. A clip from his YouTube channel can be heard here. My fellow citizens, as I have pointed out before, you have been lagging behind in your endless struggle towards fascism. It's been embarrassing. As we speak, people in this country can still say whatever they want. They can criticize whoever they want. Even the President of the United States. What kind of half-assed, half-big, medium-real fascism is this?

17:36Despicable performance. Unacceptable results. But all of this is about to change. Name that comedian. Pass. We might as well have a guess. Are we assuming the name? It does not look like either team is ready to have a guess. The comedian is Bassam Youssef, an Egyptian heart surgeon turned comedian who shot to fame during the Arab Spring. He was exiled by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2014 and has lived in America since. Right, another guest question to carry us forward. Hello, I'm Alok Jha, the science editor at The Economist and host of our science podcast, Babbage. On April the 15th this year, at 8pm, the Vera Rubin Observatory recorded its very first photons of starlight.

18:23In the coming decade, Rubin will see more detail about the cosmos and unlock more of its unknowns than any machine that has come before. I visited the site of the observatory earlier this year. Which country did I travel to? Wow. Right, low bar? Chile. Chile is correct. You can catch a rerun of that full episode of Babbage where Alec explores the observatory on New Year's Eve if you missed it originally. This has not been, I mean, for me anyway, this has not been fun enough yet. So we're getting more fun. We have asked Deputy Editor Robert Guest to give a dramatic reading of some lyrics of an artist we profiled in The Economist this year.

19:07Why so sexy if so dumb? And how survived the earth so long? If I'm not there, it won't get done. I choose to blame your mom. Low bar. I think it is Sabrina Carpenter. It is Sabrina Carpenter. I did whisper in Tom's ear. It's not Sabrina Carpenter. Right, bonus point then. What's the name of the song? An espresso. Do you want to have a go, Lobar? No, all I know is it's a song about men, but I don't know the title of it. Manchild. Right, fingers on buzzers. This is going to be... What was Netflix's most popular film in 2025? Oh, my God. Uh, low bar. K-pop demon hunters. Correct! Oh, God, this is a disaster.

19:59It's going to get cut from the edit, but I want the audience to know they were given lots of hints. Hello, this is Shelley Shitness, business writer at The Economist. My question is, we wrote about a 17-year-old athlete who we dubbed the fastest kid on earth. He's faster than Usain Bolt was at the same age. And he has a very catchy name. Who is he? He's from Australia. Is not the question. And he's got a name that begins with S, I think. Half a point. Half a point. Half a sloop. Wow. So wrong. JPFC, would you like to have a go? No, I can't. There is Gout Gout. Quite a sensation, this young man.

20:42Australia love him. Partly because of the name, partly because he is just brilliant. There you go. Gout Gout. Right. Tis the season for Christmas cards, but this year will be the last... Wow. You guys love that story. That was us. That was us. That was you. Yes, fine. JPSC? Denmark. Denmark is the correct answer. Okay, so for the listeners at home who did not get to hear the other half of that question, this year will be the last year for Christmas cards to be delivered in which European country as it becomes the first to end letter collection. Over the past 25 years, the volume of letters has declined by 90 % in the country.

21:18Bright red post boxes with a post horn and the Danish crown have adorned the country streets since the mid-1800s, but now any mail will have to be dropped off and picked up from a private company. Hi, this is Sarah Wu, the Economist China correspondent in Beijing. My question for you is, where are most of the world's artificial Christmas trees and decorations produced? This is a very specific one. Ooh, JPFC. Is it Yi Wu in China? Yi Wu is correct. Very good. Nearly two-thirds... We have not actually published that story yet. We will! We will! 24. Yiwu is correct. Nearly two-thirds of the world's Christmas products are manufactured in East China's Yiwu, an inland city in Zhejiang province.

22:01The industry has been hammered this year by American tariffs. It's in two stories, the judges are telling me. It's a little hard for us to know the answer to that one. You've actually read the story. Okay, next we are going to play you sounds associated with news stories from the year. Just tell me the story that the sound is associated with. Here is the first.

22:31Okay, if that's not clear enough, I would really have an extra clue to help you with this. You hear that sound? Oh, that's music to my ears. I love that sound. It reminds me of money. JPFC. Drilling for oil, America. Drooling for oil in America is not the right answer. Low bar, you want to have a go? Something to do with manufacturing and tariffs and America and Donald Trump. Is that narrowed down enough? Listen to the thing, I was trying to go broad, but I went broad in a way that was both wrong and made me sound simple. The sounding like money, I think, is misdirection. The answer is, that is the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom.