Podcasts

Today we’re joined by author and academic Dr Joanna Williams, and the IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon, to discuss freedom and feminism in the 21st century. Right now, the authoritarians seems to be winning the battle of ideas, following a raft of new nanny state legislation over the last few years – with ever more draconian schemes in the pipeline. Interviewed by the IEA’s Kate Andrews, Chris and Joanna take a look at what all of this means for ordinary consumers – and whether we can expect a backlash against the nanny state, embodied by groups like Public Health England. They also examine what is becoming an increasingly puritanical culture around feminism, and what the future holds for the movement in the wake of the ‘Me Too’ campaign.

David Joland can split his career into four parts: his first venture selling disposable products to the catering industry; his second selling all kinds of mail order items; his third in media sales; and then time out as an entrepreneur and investor. This variety has allowed him space and time to write his first book, 'The Biggest Idea in the World' (a fictional account of an Uber driver taking on Silicon Valley), and to have a go at stand-up comedy. He admits he gets carried away with some ideas, but that the money-making ones "more than make up for the loss-making ones".

Mike Indian, political commentator and author of the Groucho Tendency blog, discusses the hot political topics of the moment. He looks at what could happen to the Euro and the EU in the light of Italy's political crisis and whether there will be another election soon. With President Trump imposing steel and aluminium tariffs on US allies, what effect will the EU's tough response have? Will the chaos over Govia Thameslink's timetables increase support for rail nationalisation? And will Ruth Davidson's call on Theresa May to abandon the net migration target bear fruit?

Ian Forrest of The Share Centre looks at recent stock market ructions and reviews results from Dixons Carphone and Photo-Me International, both of which fell sharply on their announcements, as well as Johnson Matthey, struggling with the shift in emphasis from diesel to electric cars.

James Cameron-Wilson casts his eye over another dismal week for the UK cinema box office, with the new Star Wars film Solo disappointing, despite the last minute arrival at the helm of Ron Howard. James also reviews Show Dogs - a contender for the year's worst film - and recommends Downsizing, now out for home viewing.

Steve Caplin delves into facial recognition technology, with Amazon under attack for selling its software to the police, Orwellian moves in China in the classroom and Facebook being urged to adopt the technology for its ads by Martin Lewis. Also a cautionary Kickstarter and Indiegogo tale, the Florida zombie power outage, an app to relight photos and how to track others without a phone.

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: Lowe’s gets some love; Footlocker jumps higher; Tiffany sparkles; And what the heck is GDPR??? Aaron Bush, David Kretzmann, and Jason Moser talk earnings news and analyze what a new set of privacy rules means for investors.

Mic Martin is a former police dog handler who found fame as the no-nonsense trainer in BBC TV’s ‘Dog Borstal’ and now runs a successful dog training business, and trains animals for film and TV. His latest project is the movie ‘Show Dogs’, working with up to 40 animals a time. He adores the animals he works with and says that often the humans who also require training. He’s been responsible for dogs used in the Harry Potter films, in some of the Bond franchise films and in numerous TV adverts.

Ever heard of money flipping? It’s a new scheme doing the rounds on Facebook and social media that promises to turn your £50 into potentially thousands. So how do you do that? Simple really, you pay others to get onto the bottom rung of a pyramid and then recruit more people to move you up a level and get paid yourself. What makes it so dumb is that it doesn’t even try to have the legitimate veneer of famous pyramid schemes of the past. It’s a Ponzi scheme, plain and simple, but what is one of those and who was Charles Ponzi, the man the scams are named after. On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost step back to America in 1920 to find out how Ponzi soared and then crashed – and look at the new money flipping scheme that has brought a trick as old as time to today’s digital age.

In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson are joined by Dr Lindsey Macmillan from University College London to discuss the role of education in social mobility. Issues relating to education are never far from the policy agenda or the headlines – whether it is early years education, university tuition fees or the possible return of grammar schools. But what does academic research tell us about the role of education at each age and stage in improving life-chances of children from poorer backgrounds, and what does this mean for policy? Franz and Matt discuss these issues with Lindsey; and also consider the limits as to what education policy can achieve, given the way that the UK labour market – and wider society – is structured.