Good week for:

Echo users, after Amazon promised to fix Alexa’s creepy laugh. Owners of the smart speakers had complained that their “virtual assistant” was spontaneously emitting a sinister, inhuman cackle. Some claim to have been woken by it during the night, and to have found it so unsettling that they had to turn their Echos off. Copper coins, after the threat of scrapping them – because consumers simply don’t use them enough – was withdrawn. According to a Treasury consultation, 60% of 1p and 2p coins are only used in one transaction before being stashed in a jar or thrown away. Alas, the £50 note, which was also under threat as it is rarely used for “routine” purchases, could still be phased out.