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James Cameron-Wilson says that yet again 6 films took £1m at the box office, with Mufasa replacing Nosferatu as #1. Racy drama Babygirl is #5, with Nicole Kidman amazing as a businesswoman whose perfect life is threatened by an affair. James found it almost too much, so real and voyeuristic did it feel. Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain at #6 has him and Kieran Culkin mismatched cousins tracing their European heritage. It's original, deftly realised, witty and well acted. Although perhaps aimed at younger viewers, Amazon's White Bird has Helen Mirren explaining her experiences under the Nazis to her grandson. Made by the great Marc Forster, it is poignant and touching and had James on the edge of tears at times.

Steve Caplin tells the salutory tale of a woman conned out of a fortune by a fake Brad Pitt online before turning to a second batch of wacky gadgets on display at the Consumer Electronics Show. There's a solar beach umbrella and a (giant) solar hat with charging ports. A new AI robot is essentially just a lamp on a walking coffee table. A flying motorcycle might not work but a helicopter carried in a van appears to. The head of an AI app confesses he has no idea how his product works. The Power Mole will transmit wireless power through windows. And the Chinese Yangwang U9 hypercar will jump potholes or metal spikes - providing it is going fast enough.

Russ Mould of A J Bell explains that private investor interest in gilts has soared of late, now that they provide a good interest rate and are relatively risk-free, providing that they are held to maturity. They are reckoning, presumably, that inflation will not rise although some of the Budget measures have yet to have their effect, while oil and international food prices are currently rising. Russ points out that the weaker pound is a potential pressure valve for the UK, with UK assets more attractive to overseas buyers. He is concerned, though, that the primary purpose of the UK stock market, to raise capital for businesses, is of far less importance than the secondary, trading, function.

Unabridged and without comment from Share Radio, here's the King's Christmas message as broadcast on 25th December '24.

You have to feel for Rachel Reeves. After establishing a solid reputation in opposition, things haven’t gone to plan as Chancellor so far. Her Autumn Budget led to widespread criticism over tax rises on employment and extra costs for businesses, while questions abound over whether her plans will deliver the growth Labour promised voters. Now, a slow burn rise in the UK’s borrowing costs has led to gilt yields surpassing the levels seen after Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s ill-fated mini-Budget. Unfortunate, for a Labour party that has spend the past couple of years citing a gilt yield spike as evidence while banging on about Liz Truss ‘crashing the economy’ and Tory mortgage penalties. But is Britain’s current predicament Rachel Reeves' and Sir Keir Starmer’s fault, or do they just find themselves caught out by an unfortunate set of circumstances? Or is it a bit of both? Where did things start to go wrong? Was it the Budget, or was it the claimed ‘£22 billion black hole’ and months of miserabilism? And what are gilts and why do yields even matter? In this episode, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert dig into what’s gone wrong with Britain’s finances and what it means for people. Plus, in better news, Lee looks at the jobs that delivered the biggest pay rises last year and why. Simon explains what’s going on with the US hedge fund staging a raid on seven investment trusts — and why investors should make sure they vote. And finally, Lee catches up with Dave Fishwick as the new 'Bank of Dave' film is released.

Disney’s streaming numbers show ad-supported tiers are a hit with consumers, and Amazon takes aim at the approach that made Google’s ad business ubiquitous online. Ron Gross and Jason Moser discuss what the December Fed minutes, latest jobs numbers, and final holiday shopping figures say about the big picture, the first look at Disney’s ad-supported streaming numbers, Amazon’s plans to come after Google’s ad turf, and Meta’s changes to its content moderation policies. Then, 19 minutes in, Dave Meyer — head of real estate investing at Bigger Pockets — talks Matt Argersinger through the state of real estate and the markets he’s watching in 2025. Finally, 34 minutes in, Ron and Jason break down two stocks on their radar: Paylocity and Gannett. Stocks discussed: DAL, DIS, META, GOOG, GOOGL, AMZN, ADBE, GCI, PCTY. Host - Dylan Lewis; Guests - Jason Moser, Ron Gross, Dave Meyer, Matt Argersinger.

It’s Nvidia’s world, and we’re just living in it. David Meier and Mary Long discuss Jensen Huang’s CES keynote, plus all “the cool stuff that’s coming,” from personal supercomputers to self-driving trucks and AI-rendered worlds, the rollout of a digital workforce, and why Wall Street shrugged at Nvidia’s announcements. Then, 16 minutes in, Fool analyst Jason Moser joins for a closer look at PayPal, how the payments processor fell from recent highs, and why still-new CEO Alex Chriss is returning the company to what it does best. Companies mentioned: NVDA, PYPL. Host - Mary Long; Guests - David Meier, Jason Moser

Many people resort to alcohol as a means of tackling stress, but it can be a slippery slope downwards. Adam Cox, whose route to a different relationship with alcohol led to him becoming fully teetotal, explores ways of tapping into different alignments for dealing with stress in order to change that resort to alcohol.

Neil Shah of Edison Group discusses the latest bid for a UK company, Team Internet, which he discussed here recently as trading at a discount to its international peers. He points out that UK companies are vulnerable to takeover; the worry is that the UK market will keep shrinking, although he feels that value investing will return. With activist Saba Capital trying to replace the boards of 7 investment trusts, he feels that private investors must exercise their voting rights. Details are here on the AIC website. https://tinyurl.com/3ad9np9u.