CITY WHISPERS: Will the BrewDog movie be a sequel to Horrible Bosses?

BrewDog co-founder James Watt appeared on LinkedIn last week to announce that the craft beer company's story will be turned into a film.

Underdogs: The Rise of BrewDog chronicles what Watt calls the “high highs, low lows, failures, successes” and controversies that befell him and co-founder Martin Dickie as they built the Scottish brewer into a global giant.

Whispers wonders whether Watt, who helped write the script, would prefer some of the more unsavory elements of BrewDog's history to be left out.

In 2021, Watt apologized to staff after former employees accused him of presiding over a culture of fear at the company.

Former staff later appeared in a BBC documentary to accuse him of inappropriate behavior and abuse of power. Watt denies the allegations.

But who could play Watt? Suggestions so far include hardman Jason Statham… and Victor Meldrew actor Richard Wilson.

Economics is not an exact science about interest rates

Interest rate analysts have had a busy few weeks updating their forecasts after UK inflation unexpectedly fell to a two-year low of 3.9 percent in November.

Capital Economics predicted last week that the Bank of England would make its first rate cut in July – four months earlier than an earlier estimate.

But despite the big shift, Capital is still too cautious for the market, with most predicting the Bank will pull out the scissors as early as May.

As they say: economics is not an exact science.

Climate changes are weighing heavily on the Hollywood Bowl

Climate change is an important topic that is often brought up at annual meetings of fossil fuel giants such as BP and Shell.

But it also weighs heavily on the spirit of Hollywood Bowl. The latest annual report says warmer weather could result in 'fewer footfalls' as punters choose to sunbathe rather than hit the streets.

Even the company's compensation committee has green issues in mind. It links 10 percent of the bonus for its boss and other executives to “the percentage of waste that is recycled.”

It means that the ability to sort waste into different bins was deemed as important as customer satisfaction scores, which as a hospitality group you would think would be slightly more important in keeping the profits rolling in.

Iconic bootmaker Dr. Martens limps

Iconic shoemaker Dr. Martens will be limping into 2024. The shares took a hit last year after four profit warnings, as weak sales in the US and unseasonably warm weather weighed on earnings.

The city's sharks can smell blood. The amount of short interest in the stock recently hit an all-time high.

About 2 percent of the shares are now held by hedge funds, with Marshall Wace having the biggest bet against the group. It also has a large short position on energy group Petrofac, which saw its shares plummet last year. Dr. Martens must proceed very carefully.

Contributor: Emily Hawkins