The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Rosie Bloor.

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

Thank you. we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your worlds. What was the first word humans ever uttered?

It's impossible to know for sure.

But, a warning here to listeners who don't like profane language,

according to a man who compiled a giant dictionary of slang, it may not have been a

polite one. And in medieval England, profits from wool sales helped build towns and churches. Now,

after a very long decline, the price of wool in Britain is at its highest for a decade. Our correspondent finds out what the flock is going on.

But first...

Eating as much high-calorie food as possible made sense for our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

And even in times of plenty, we've just kept on eating, creating an obesity crisis of global proportions.

Then along came Nova Nordisk, a Danish company that in 2021 launched a drug which meant people

no longer had to use willpower alone to suppress their appetite.

Have you always had trouble with your weight?

Me too.

Discover the power of Wigovi.

With Bogovi, I lost 35 pounds.

Consumers loved it, and for over two years,

Novo Nordisk effectively had a monopoly on weight loss drugs.

But now it risks losing that prime position to a competitor.

...