Podcasts

New research from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG suggests that retail sales for March are 'underwhelming'. What does this mean for retailers and the high street? Nigel was joined by Paul Martin, UK Head of Retail at KPMG, to discuss further.

Fresh details on price rises and wage growth this week are expected to underline the rising pressures on UK household budgets as the pound’s sharp fall since the Brexit vote continues to stoke inflation. The Bank of England has warned the economy’s main engine of growth, consumer spending, will lose momentum this year as rising living costs eat into people’s budgets. Economists expect official figures on Tuesday will vindicate those worries, with inflation forecast to have reached its highest level for more than three years in March.

Today: Barclays and its chief executive are being investigated by regulators over their handling of a whistleblower; fashion house Jaeger collapses into administration.

It's time to talk politics. Today: pressure is expected to be put on Russia over its relations with the Syrian government by G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy; the French Communist-backed presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is closing in on the frontrunners Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, according to new polls.

Technology is changing almost every aspect of daily life and business and finance is no exception. Share Radio's Simon Rose and Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology editor, look at the big technological changes that impact on the world of business, finance and money as well as some of the gadgets that help make everyday life a bit easier. On today's programme - fancy pizza delivered by drone?

For what's happening on stock markets across the pond, Share Radio catches up with the Motley Fool Money team.

Crowdfunders is Share Radio's weekly look at all forms of crowdfunding - including peer to peer lending. Today: good news for the 'punk' brewer, Brewdog - it's raised money from a US private equity firm at a valuation over £1 billion.

New evidence suggests the Bank of England may have been involved in the Libor rigging scandal. A secret recording from 2008 uncovered by the BBC suggests that the UK's central bank pressured commercial banks to push Libor rates down during the Financial Crisis. Libor is the rate at which banks lend to each other, setting a benchmark for mortgages and loans for ordinary customers. In one section of the recording, Senior Barclays manager Mark Dearlove speaks to Libor submitter Peter Johnson, telling him: "The bottom line is you're going to absolutely hate this... but we've had some very serious pressure from the UK government and the Bank of England about pushing our Libors lower." Ed Bowsher was joined by Chris Justham of 7IM.

With less than two weeks remaining before the French Presidential Election, the race has become a four-way contest, with the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon overtaking the conservative Francois Fillon in the latest polls. Independent Emmanuel Macron and National Front Leader Marine Le Pen are still in the lead in the polls, both with 24%, but who will win in the end? For her thoughts, Ed Bowsher was joined by Aarti Shankar, Policy Analyst at Open Europe.

Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to increase the national living wage to £10 an hour within the first months of a Labour government, a rise that would benefit nearly 6 million workers. But is it enough to sway voters in the next general election? For this and more of the day's political news, Ed Bowsher was joined by Robert Colvile, Editor of CapX.