Podcasts

Siddharth Shankar says he has unashamedly exploited the potential opportunities from Brexit by founding Tail’s Trading, a company opening up British SMEs to a mammoth Asian market. He realised, not far in to an engineering degree, that he’d rather work in finance and says he made the decision to ‘jump in’ (a method he heartily recommends!). He loves jazz music, reflected here in some of his musical choices, and cites Warren Buffett as a great business role model.

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, is reportedly obsessed with the issue of productivity; whilst most of the electorate remain baffled. We talk to Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser and board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), who draws on her experience of being ‘responsible’ for productivity targets under the last Labour Government. Numerous explanations have been put forward for the UK’s poor productivity performance since 2008. Recent research suggests we have a particularly long tail of poorly performing companies in the UK, who fail to adopt innovations of the leading 1%. We consider this diagnosis next to many others, and speculate on what a newly formulated Industrial Strategy might do to help.

Adam talks to Asesh Sarkar, CEO of Salary Finance a fin-tech company that helps employees access tools to improve their financial health. They discuss research that shows that money doesn’t mean happiness as more people earning over £100k were more stressed than those earning less. They explore ways to improve financial and mental well-being that don’t necessarily mean simply earning more.

Graham Spooner, investment research analyst at The Share Centre looks back at numbers from Barclays and Lloyds as well as Debenhams and WPP. He looks ahead to forthcoming results from HSBC and Standard Chartered, together with BP and BT.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University ponders MP John Penrose's idea of a UK sovereign wealth fund. He also looks at financial innovation on the high street and the way traditional banks are abandoning it while new entrants like Metro Bank are embracing it. He also looks ahead to the Budget. Tim and Ed Bowsher will be participating in Share Radio's Budget Analysis, available from the day after the Chancellor presents the Budget.

James Cameron-Wilson casts his eye over a UK box office dominated by sequels and remakes, with the latest A Star is Born (the 4th version) rising to the No. 1 spot and a new Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis in at No. 2. James also reviews the Gerard Butler thriller Hunter Killer and looks at the Blu-Ray release of the Russell Crowe Christian Bale 3.10 to Yuma (another remake).

Our technology expert, Steve Caplin tells us about the first ever commercial flight using eco-friendly jet fuel. The fuel is made from captured waste gases from steel mills. He also discusses sans forgetica, a new hard-to-read font. The idea is that if it's hard to read an item, you'll be more likely to remember it. And he also highlights Felic, which its backers claim is the world's first AI pet toy.

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show: Netflix adds seven million subscribers for the quarter and crushes Wall Street expectations; Analysts Andy Cross, Jason Moser, and Jeff Fischer talk about Netflix’s latest numbers and delve into earnings from American Express, Atlassian or Domino’s.

The technology sector has had a serious wobble in the last fortnight. Ed Bowsher asks what’s next for this part of the market and whether now is a good time to invest. He speaks to Howie Li of Legal & General Investment Management and Hector McNeill of HAN ETF.

In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson are joined by Steve Machin, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, and a leading expert in the economics of crime. We might not initially think that economists have much to say on crime and policing, but Steve explains how the choice to commit crime can be thought of like any other choice that involves weighing up the costs and benefits. As such, when the prices of goods on the black market change or the chances of being caught change there is a response in crime rates. Similarly, when individuals are made to stay in school longer, this leads to a reduction in crime as those with more education can earn more in the labour market and so crime is less attractive. Steve goes on to highlight a number of ways in which the economics of crime research has led to changes in policy that have had positive results for society.