Share Sounds presented by Juliette Foster related to Economics - UK

Britain's small businesses know what they want from the Chancellor and amongst the items topping their wish list are government initiatives to boost productivity, infrastructure investment along with partnerships to stabilise the economy as the country prepares for Brexit. Yet most small firms are concerned about the business rates. They believe it's an area that's ripe for urgent reform and they want Mr Hammond to use his budget to bring the rates in line with inflation. to see if this is likely, Juliette Foster spoke to Mike Cherry, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses.

Juliette Foster was joined by Billy Bambrough, Editor of economics and business website Verdict.co.uk this morning. Today on the agenda, they discussed obviously the Spring budget and what we can expect. Plus they look into how Nestle is cutting the amount of sugar in its chocolate bars by 10%. All these stories and more on The News Review

It's not just Brexit causing uncertainty for investors - upcoming elections in France, The Netherlands and Germany could produce headwinds for markets. What can investors do and should they trust the polls? Stephen Macklow-Smith, is Head of European Equity Strategy and manager of the JPMorgan European Investment Trust, JPMorgan Asset Management, joined Share Radio's Juliette Foster.

What can we expect from Chancellor Hammond? Juliette Foster was joined by Josh Lowe of Newsweek to discuss if we will see any surprises. Another big story of the day was the government suffer's a second Brexit defeat in the House of Lords after peers backed calls for a "meaningful" parliamentary vote on the final terms of withdrawal - what does that mean? Has the Lords told the government that parliament should be given the vote over the final Brexit deal?

Joining Juliette Foster to discuss the latest market headlines was Share Radio's very own Nigel Cassidy starting with Chancellor Philip Hammond announcing his first Budget at 12:30. Just what effect can we expect it to have on the markets? And on the morning's of big political and economic events such as today, do we tend to get many company announcements? Nigel was here to go through all this and more from the markets this morning.

Do bosses have the right to tell their female workers what they should wear to work? The question rose to prominence in 2015 when receptionist Nicola Thorpe was sent home by her employers and told to change the flat shoes she was wearing for a pair of high heels. The publicity surrounding the case led to an inquiry and a report which concluded that while the law prevents employers from imposing dress codes on their staff, it doesn't do enough to protect employees from discriminatory practices and unsafe working conditions. Well for more analysis Juliette Foster spoke to solicitor Beverley Sunderland of Crossland Employment Solicitors.

We're in the first week of Fintech Fortnight now, a two week period dedicated to this expanding sector. Already we've seen huge transformations with banking now more likely to be accessed through a phone than waiting for a statement through the post box. So what does the future hold and how do people feel about the pace of change. To discuss just how much Fintech has developed our reporter Tom Hill spoke to James Smith, Mobile and Digital Innovation Director at Nationwide Building Society.

As it has become the norm, Brexit has dominated the newspaper headlines this morning. Theresa May has checkmated the Commons, but can she do the same to the House of Lords? Brexit Secretary David Davis has said the Lords must "do their patriotic duty". To discuss all this and more, Share Radio Morning's Juliette Foster was joined by Josh Lowe Reporter at Newsweek.

The government is promising to fix what it calls the "broken" housing market by building thousands of new homes and helping first time buyers. Amongst the many proposals is a three-billion pound fund to get small companies building in England. It's thought that around 60 per cent of new homes are being produced by just 10 larger firms. Share Radio's James Brydges spoke to Michael Holmes, spokesperson at The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show and head of NaCSBA (National Custom and Self Build Association) and Russell Quirk, the founder of the online estate agent emoov.co.uk.

One of the largest investments a mobile phone operator makes is on their network. Network builds and maintenance run into billions of pounds as these companies seek to maintain service levels, or improve their geographical reach and speeds. However the underlying software and signalling protocols they run on can often be flawed, leaving them open to attack from outsiders. Juliette Foster was joined by Michael Downs, Head of Telecoms Security at Positive Technologies, to explain more about the risk to operators from such vulnerabilities.