Has artificial intelligence created a stockmarket bubble? A handful of tech firms have driven much of the remarkable rise in American share prices in recent years. Now analysts worry about a big, expensive deflation. Our best bubbleologists have compared AI with other emerging technologies going back to the 1800s to determine just how painful a pop might be. 

And from one worrying protrusion to another, France’s prime minister has called the country’s bulging public debt an “intolerable haemorrhage”. François Bayrou’s speech was a last-ditch attempt to save his budget, and his job, ahead of a confidence vote in parliament later today. He will almost certainly lose, plunging France back into a period of triple trouble.