Liz Truss won the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party leadership contest yesterday, meaning she’ll succeed Boris Johnson as the country’s prime minister. As the UK barrels toward an economic recession, getting the job is like taking the keys to the sputtering family Corolla your sister left you when she went to college.

Who is Liz Truss? The new PM is described by her supporters as loyal and by her opponents as opportunistic. Here is a quick LinkedIn bio:

• In 2014, Truss became the youngest woman to be cabinet minister in British history.
• She’s worked under three prime ministers, most recently as foreign secretary for Johnson.
• Truss originally opposed Brexit, but became one of its biggest boosters after the fact.

Here’s what she’s up against

Inflation that’s even worse than in the US: Annual inflation in the UK is above 10% and some analysts are estimating it may not peak until next year, when it hits 18% or even 22%. The situation is only going to get worse as it gets colder. Annual household energy bills are expected to jump 80% in October as Russia continues throttling gas flows.

Political instability: Truss won with only 57% of the party votes, a much smaller margin than expected. She also wasn’t chosen in a general election. Because Johnson, who resigned in July following years of scandal, was a Conservative prime minister, only dues-paying party members could vote for his replacement. Bookmakers are anticipating that her tenure will be a short one.

Rough international waters: She’s ready to jump right in and scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol, a Brexit agreement that kept trade flowing smoothly through Northern Ireland, which borders the Republic of Ireland, an EU country. This move is vehemently opposed by the EU. Scottish lawmakers are also worried Truss will try to change laws and make it harder for Scotland to declare independence from the UK.

Looking ahead…according to the BBC, Truss’s first order of business will be to freeze energy bills so citizens don’t have to rely on wool sweaters exclusively this winter. It’s unclear how the government expects to pay for that, though, as Truss has staunchly opposed raising taxes on energy companies or wealthy individuals.—MM

Judge greenlights special master to review Mar-a-Lago documents. Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on former President Donald Trump’s request that an independent third party assess the documents seized by the FBI from his Florida home for attorney-client and executive privilege. The DOJ objected to the idea, noting it had already read through the materials and found very little to be privileged. The appointment is likely to delay the ongoing criminal investigation into the ex-president’s handling of classified information.

California to raise wages for fast-food workers. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law yesterday that could boost pay for workers at fast-food chains in the Golden State as high as $22 per hour. McDonald’s and other fast-food players lobbied hard to get him to veto the law, which establishes a government council to set the minimum pay rate for the industry. The first-of-its-kind law may spur copycats in other states.

Amazon introduces three-day delay period to ward off review bombing. To contend with mass negative reviews of its shows like The Rings of Power, Amazon has instituted a three-day wait period on all user reviews for Prime Video content. A $715 million prequel to The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power’s premiere pulled in 25 million global viewers, the streamer’s biggest debut ever. Despite generally positive reviews from TV critics, the series has a 39% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and nearly 25% of IMDb reviewers gave it one star.

Gustavo Arnal, the 52-year-old chief financial officer of Bed Bath & Beyond, died by suicide on Friday after falling from a New York City skyscraper.

Arnal joined Bed Bath & Beyond in May 2020, attempting to help the beleaguered retailer overhaul its supply chain and weather the pandemic. That supply shake-up proved problematic, resulting in empty shelves and weakened sales.

Things haven’t gotten better for the company since those pandemic lows. Last Wednesday, Arnal delivered a bleak outlook to investors: Net sales dropped 26% from this time last year, and Bed Bath & Beyond will slash its workforce by 20% and shutter 150 stores.

Less than two weeks before his death, Arnal and billionaire investor Ryan Cohen were named in a class-action lawsuit accusing them of insider trading and securities fraud during a meme stock rally in August, when BBBY shares surged 400% from a July low and then cratered as news broke that billionaire Cohen sold his entire stake in the company. The company said last week it believed the lawsuit to be without merit.

Zoom out: Arnal’s death leaves Bed Bath & Beyond with interim executives filling both the CFO and CEO positions heading into the holiday season. Last week, the company announced the roles of chief operating officer and chief stores officer were being eliminated.—MK

The iPhone 14 is coming. On Wednesday, Apple will launch its iPhone 14 series at its fall hardware event, with the uber-pricey Pro phones expected to undergo the biggest changes. Tim is also cooking up the Apple Watch Series 8, and potentially may announce new AirPod Pros and new iPads.

The NFL is back. The Buffalo Bills and defending champs Los Angeles Rams will kick off the new season on Thursday night, then the full slate of Week 1 games gets going this weekend. RIP Sunday plans until February 2023.

Ethereum begins the Merge. It may not exactly be on your radar, but the Ethereum blockchain is undergoing a potentially transformative software update that begins today. Called the Merge, it’s expected to decrease the energy used to validate crypto transactions by 99.95%.

Everything else:

• The US Open wraps up this weekend. If you’re looking for players to root for uncontrollably: Americans Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff. Tiafoe downed Rafael Nadal yesterday, and Gauff, just 18 years old, plays tonight.
• The 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is on Sunday.
• Disney will announce new streaming content on Disney+ Day on Thursday.

Quote: “Send us the numbers, Jimmy ”

Guinness World Records demanded receipts after YouTube sensation turned burger joint owner MrBeast (real name: Jimmy Donaldson) tweeted Sunday that the opening of his first physical restaurant in a New Jersey shopping mall broke the world record for most burgers sold in one day by a single restaurant. Record or no, one thing is clear: People are willing to stand in line for a long time to buy burgers from a guy who gives away money on the internet.

Stat: Across the US, babies given names of places tend to be from the state the place is associated with, so if you meet someone named Tex born between 2000 and 2019, it’s a near certainty they’re from Texas, while a Denali is most likely to hail from Alaska, according to an analysis of social security data by Axios. The big exception? New Jersey, where the capital is decidedly unpopular—despite their pride in Springsteen and arguing over whether central Jersey exists, parents in the state are 85 times less likely to name their kids Trenton than parents outside it.

Read: New career goals—world Monopoly champion. (The Guardian)

Dive back into the week:

• Shallow dive: When the box is too small.
• Medium dive: Incredible video of Taylor Hawkins’s son playing “My Hero” for the Foo Fighters.
• Deep dive: How chain-y is your neighborhood?
• Cannonball: 11 tricks to master Google Docs.

Aesthetically pleasing: Le Creuset’s autumn-themed Dutch ovens. And here are some recipes to make in them.

Brew Mini: Mary brewed up a special Mini to mark her 200th crossword with the Brew. Play it here.

Memoir trivia

Memoir—it’s not just a fun word to say but also good material for trivia. For today’s quiz, we’ll give you the title of a notable person’s memoir, and you have to name the author.

1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
2. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000)
3. Becoming (2018)
4. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
5. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) (2011)

PSA: Our Labor Day sale ends TONIGHT! Reward your hard work with deals starting at 50% off from the Morning Brew Store.

Shop now while supplies last.

Be careful who you ask for IT support, because you never know who will be on the other end of the Zoom call. Watch the new episode of Good Work here.

Check out more from the Brew:

Give your career the boost you’ve been waiting for. Apply to the Brew’s eight-week Leadership Accelerator today.

Work in corporate retail? Live in NYC? Make sure to swing by the Retail Brew Summit to network and discuss the future of commerce. Learn more.