1. Boris Johnson lost his place during his speech at the annual CBI dinner for 21 excruciating seconds. How many times did he say either “erm” or “forgive me” while riffling through his notes?

   1. Four times

   2. Five times

   3. Eight times

2. 

   Brewdog, the Scottish brewery, upset one of its customers when the “solid gold” beer can he won turned out to be largely brass. How much did Brewdog say it was worth?

   1. £5,000

   2. £15,000

   3. £50,000

3. The price of Bitcoin reached an all-time high. How much would one Bitcoin have set you back in November 2021?

   1. $68,000

   2. $86,000

   3. $96,000

4. What did Sir Richard Branson do just before Amazon’s Jeff Bezos this year?

   1. Guarantee to pay staff worldwide a living wage

   2. Sign up for full global tax transparency across his businesses

   3. Fly to the edge of space

5. 

   How did West Midlands Trains teach its staff about cybersecurity awareness?

   1. It sent a fake email from the boss promising a bonus for working through Covid

   2. It asked them to hack the onboard wifi used by passengers

   3. It put them on a three-day residential course in a luxury Cotswolds hotel

6. What will the national living wage rise to from April, from the current level of £8.91 an hour?

   1. £9.21

   2. £9.50

   3. £11.35

7. Who said their company's flotation, or IPO, in London had "just sucked from start to finish"?

   1. Matt Moulding of THG

   2. Will Shu of Deliveroo

   3. Poppy Gustafsson of Darktrace

8. 

   Pictures released by the Treasury press office showed Rishi Sunak preparing for the autumn budget while wearing a pair of £95 pool sliders. But what was printed on the chancellor’s Gen Z footwear?

   1. Thug Life

   2. Fiscal Rulz

   3. Palm Angels

9. Which company explained its change of name by saying it wanted a "modern, agile and digitally enabled" identity?

   1. Facebook, which became Meta

   2. Royal Dutch Shell, which is becoming Shell

   3. Standard Life Aberdeen, which became abrdn

10. What did the London stockbroking firm FinnCap give its staff to stop burnout in November?

    1. Unlimited coffee

    2. Unlimited holiday

    3. Unlimited massages

11. 

    When the Omicron variant emerged in November, Pfizer and BioNTech said they could tweak their Covid-19 vaccine in how many days if needed?

    1. 100

    2. 200

    3. 50

12. Rivian raised $12bn in the biggest US stock market float this year, despite lacking what?

    1. It doesn’t have any offices

    2. It hasn’t made any sales

    3. It doesn’t have any products

13. How did Elon Musk describe Dogecoin during his guest-host spot on Saturday Night Live?

    1. Great value

    2. The future currency of Mars

    3. A hustle

14. 

    What was the name of the huge container ship that blocked the Suez canal in March?

    1. Ever Given

    2. Ever Green

    3. Ever Sailing

15. How many UK energy suppliers have gone bust in 2021?

    1. 14

    2. 22

    3. 27

16. Who said: “If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year”?

    1. Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister

    2. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency

    3. Bernard Looney, the chief executive of BP

17. 

    Which event caused UK electricity prices to surge to £2,500 a megawatt hour, from a norm of about £50/MWh, in September?

    1. Storm Arwen

    2. Russia amassing up to 100,000 troops on the border of Ukraine

    3. A fire that shut down a cable bringing electricity from France to Kent

18. Which British retailer was not bought by a US company this year?

    1. Asda

    2. Morrisons

    3. Depop

19. Why did Tesco’s Christmas ad attract more than 5,000 complaints to the advertising watchdog?

    1. Santa’s reindeer were not wearing masks

    2. Santa had a Covid passport

    3. The elves were being too naughty

20. 

    How many days was the Marble Arch Mound open to paying visitors before being closed for refurbishment?

    1. 17

    2. 34

    3. 2

21. Spacs took US stock markets by storm in the first half of 2021, with a flood of businesses using mergers with "blank-cheque" companies to list on stock markets. What does Spac stand for?

    1. Stock purchase arrangement corporation

    2. Special purpose acquisition company

    3. Share partnership and commission

22. How much is the highest outstanding student loan in the UK, as revealed earlier this year by a freedom of information request?

    1. £51,400

    2. £93,900

    3. £189,700

23. 

    A new £50 note went into circulation in June this year, but who's the famous face from the past on it this time?

    1. The scientist Alan Turing

    2. The painter JMW Turner

    3. The civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel

24. Which city has the most dollar millionaires (those with assets of more than $1m), according to the estate agent Knight Frank?

    1. New York

    2. Hong Kong

    3. London

25. The telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi has been building a stake in BT before a potential takeover next year. How big is his stake currently?

    1. 12.1%

    2. 18%

    3. 21.1%

26. 

    Official data revealed that how many people in the UK were leading a “cashless life” (where they never or only extremely rarely use notes and coins) last year?

    1. 7.7 million people

    2. 13.7 million people

    3. 23.7 million people

27. Which celebrity did the Financial Conduct Authority reference earlier this year when it was warning on paid-for crypto posts by social media influencers?

    1. Kim Kardashian

    2. Ed Sheeran

    3. Billie Eilish

Solutions

1:B, 2:B, 3:A, 4:C, 5:A, 6:B, 7:A, 8:C, 9:C, 10:B, 11:A, 12:B, 13:C, 14:A, 15:C, 16:B, 17:C, 18:A, 19:B, 20:C, 21:B, 22:C, 23:A, 24:C, 25:B, 26:B, 27:A

Scores

1. 21 and above.

   Wow! With thinking that fast, you'll be richer than Elon Musk soon

2. 11 and above.

   Not bad! You're racing ahead faster than Elon Musk's bank account

3. 6 and above.

   You’re not really trying – maybe your business knowledge needs a booster

4. 0 and above.

   Have you been partying too much? Your score is lower than Boris Johnson's approval ratings