Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Britain is starting on a demographic rise that's unusual in the developed world.

The number of 18-year-olds is on the up, and it will be for a decade.

We look into the reasons behind the youthful bump and what it means for the country's economy.

And let me tell you something about television news.

Sometimes those presenters really are wearing shorts under the desk.

During the pandemic, many of us tried the same trick on Zoom.

Now, as we head back to the office, what will office wear look like?

But first... Across China,

Across China, investors are staging protests at the offices of Evergrand, the country's second largest property developer.

One investor said the company had cheated her out of all her money.

She has nothing left.

Evergrand has more debt than any property developer in the world, $300 billion worth.

One group of people it owes money to are would-be Chinese homeowners.

The company sells houses that aren't yet built.

It also owes money to bondholders, domestically and internationally.

It's a business model that's been precarious for years.

It got dangerous when China's government imposed new rules on just how much debt property companies could carry and how much cash they must have on hand. Now the prospect that

Evergrand could collapse has roiled the markets. So far Evergrand is still afloat. This morning,

it said it would make one big payment on a debt due in Renminbi.

But the status of another even bigger debt in dollars due tomorrow remains unclear.

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