Podcasts

Britain is in the grip of a mysterious property mini-boom. Talk of a property market more buoyant than it’s been in years, of viewings and offers flooding in and family homes in hot demand, doesn’t seem to just be the usual estate agent puff. Evidence from mortgage reports, surveyors and data on estate agent activity, appears to bear this out. The stamp duty holiday and lockdown itchy feet have combine to make parts of the market a sellers’ one, so as a buyer what can you do to get a decent offer accepted and avoid overpaying? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce talk buying homes. They discuss what’s going on, whether all parts of the market are flying (not quite), why some homes go to above asking price offers but others linger, and how as a buyer you can get a good deal, while as a seller you can also try to go under offer swiftly at a decent price. Also, on this week’s show, the team discuss the rise of the lockdown trader and why more people – and younger ones at that – are buying shares. They look at inflation and how many savings account beat it. And finally, why has the Royal Mint said it probably won’t need to make anymore 2p pieces or £2 coins for a very long time?

Graham Spooner of The Share Centre looks at recent numbers from Ocado, which has just begun its tie-up with Marks & Spencer, replacing its longstanding relationship with Waitrose. He also looks at the arrival on the stock market of the multi-billion e-commerce company The Hut Group. Looking ahead, he considers what we might expect from water companies United Utilities and Pennon, as well as retailer Kingfisher and conglomerate Smiths Group.

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, where Tenet still rules supreme. He reviews two current cinema releases, The Broken Hearts Gallery and Sally Potter's The Roads Not Taken. For home viewing he looks at the restored Blu-Ray release of the 1942 Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake film noir This Gun For Hire and Netflix's controversial Paris-set movie Cuties about the sexualisation of children.

Technology editor Steve Caplin looks at the latest products from Apple, marvels at news of probable life on Venus, asks how you can locate human bodies in a forest, scoffs at the usability of Britbox for its main purpose, admires a face mask that incorporates air conditioning, praises scientists helping robots and amputees to feel pain, approves of the world's first portable MRI brain scanner and gushes over the Oceanbird sailing ship, providing a more environmentally-friendly freight solution.

Adam is joined by hypnotherapist and trainer Sheila Granger who discusses how she responded to the tourism industry screeching to a halt by using hypnosis to enable people to travel to exotic locations while still in their own homes. Sheila uses hypnotherapy to take clients to beaches like the Seychelles or hidden gems throughout the world. Sheila shares where the idea came from and what the future has in store for imagination travel.

Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's show, Richard Johnson of the Urban Institute discusses the likelihood that workers over the age of 50 will experience a career disruption, and how to increase the chances that you can work well into your 60s.

Adam is joined by Sarah Clarke-Keuhn, Group Director of Sanctuary Care who discusses how the coronavirus pandemic has caused an unprecedented challenge for social care and has changed the way that care home residents live their lives in major ways. With new arrivals required to isolate prior to entering a new care home, and many being confined to a single room for up to 14 days, Sarah explains how this could have a major impact on the mental and physical health of the most venerable in our society and how care homes are adapting.

As if 2020 wasn’t already proving to be a painful enough year, fraud has soared in lockdown. Fraud victims are now losing at least £11.5million a day but the real total is estimated at £80million, as only about 15 per cent of cases go reported. Cases are up 43 per cent in lockdown, according to Action Fraud figures, and the amount lost is up a staggering 286 per cent – meaning a victim loses £8,000 of their savings in average every minute. So could you fall victim to lockdown fraud? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss how people are being conned, the red flags to watch out for, what your rights are if you fall victim and why it’s not enough to think it won’t happen to you. Also on this week’s show, will the rule of six knock the chance of a V-shaped recovery for six and what on earth is the Government playing at with its Brexit threat to break international law? And finally, there’s a savings lottery out there with a better chance of winning £50,000 than the Premium Bonds. Family BS’ windfall bonds have a minimum investment of £10,000 but a one in 714 chance of winning monthly prizes of between £1,000 and £50,000… but there’s a catch, it’s also possible no one will win. So, is it worth signing up?