Name: Rishi Sunak is the UK's new prime minister: BBC News Review
Uploaded: 2022-09-15T16:45:23.000Z
Duration: 6 min 55 s
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The UK has its third prime minister in seven weeks.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about this story.

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Rishi Sunak has taken over from Liz Truss

Truss resigned after being heavily criticised

for her economic plan which saw the value of the pound drop significantly.

British Asian prime minister, will have urgent issues to deal with,

including the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Opposition parties are calling for a general election.

OK. So Beth, you've been looking at the headlines.

We have 'bruising', 'Rishinomics' and 'steep learning curve'.

OK, let's have a look at our first headline.

Liz Truss beat Rishi Sunak earlier in a leadership contest this summer.

Now, the headline says he's bounced back.

But The Times described that defeat as 'bruising'.

So, a bruise is something you get when you hurt yourself. Right?

or something like that. And if you touch it, it's quite painful.

So, the headline is saying that this was a bruising,

meaning a painful defeat for Rishi Sunak.

Yes. And here it also means that it damages his... or damaged

his reputation or confidence. So, the loss damaged his reputation.

So, like a bruise damages your skin. That's right.

Yeah, and we can hear this adjective 'bruising' in other news headlines,

particularly when it comes to sports. Now Sian, yesterday,

That's a bruising loss, but are there any other words

it's not really heard in everyday conversation.

So, you might describe a defeat or a loss as 'painful', 'bitter'

and specifically that Rishinomics will cause this pain.

Well, 'Rishinomics' is a playful way of combining his name, Rishi,

with the suffix '-nomics' that comes from economics.

OK. So, is it normal to combine a name with the suffix '-nomics'?

Well, it is if you're talking about a politician and their economic policies.

Now, recently, a lot of people have been criticising

-Trussonomics - that's the economic policies of Liz Truss.

And you also might have heard of Reaganomics from the 1980s in the USA.

OK. So, can I start talking about Sianonomics?

and you become in charge of all of finance, then, yes.

OK. So, the headline says that the new prime minister will need

So, that means the whole world will be watching how he does his job. Now,

he doesn't have a lot of experience being a prime minister,

right at the beginning. OK. So, the headline

says or means that at the start of the job

He'll learn a lot quickly, and this learning curve is described as steep.

it's steep. So, it's also a difficult job.

Yeah. So, steep really emphasises how quickly

he will need to learn. And can we use this in other situations?

Yes, we can. So, when you start a new job, then

definitely, it can be a steep learning curve.

Also, when you leave home for the first time,

and also have to learn a new language, that can be a very steep learning curve.

Definitely. But, if you're in that situation,

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Rishi Sunak is the UK's new prime minister: BBC News Review

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