Share Sounds

Steve Caplin looks at the first autonomous vehicle casualty and the woman who almost died from staring at her smartphone. He also looks at the trash-cleaning robot you can control, a combined phone and fidget spinner and the Google Street view Easter Egg.

James Cameron-Wilson reviews Peter Rabbit, a phenomenal hit in the United States, the new Tomb Raider and Mary Magdalene, while marvelling at the continuing success of The Greatest Showman.

Graham Spooner, Investment Research Analyst at The Share Centre, looks at the general state of the stock market, as well as numbers from Kingfisher and Micro Focus. He also looks at what we might expect from Ferguson (ex-Wolseley) and United Utilities and SSE.

UK politics is experiencing a realignment – with the old divides of left and right gradually giving way to new fault lines, based on social values, attitudes to immigration and a sense of national identity. That’s the view of Dr Steve Davies, who believes that the political parties of Britain are, increasingly, at odds with the electorate and their own core voters. This situation, he argues, has been exposed and exacerbated by the results of the EU referendum in 2016. A realignment in British politics is now inevitable. Today, the IEA’s News Editor sat down with Steve to discuss his theory, what it means for UK politics, and how the two major parties will navigate these momentous changes over the next few years.

It’s not long before the door slams shut on your chance to use this year’s Isa allowance. It’s always best not to leave Isa saving or investing until the last month of the tax year, but many of us will do so. So, here is our special Isa podcast – with a comfortable three weeks to spare before the 5 April tax year end. In it, Simon Lambert, Rachel Rickard Straus and Georgie Frost dive into everything you need to know about Isas, from cash, to stocks and shares, and Innovative to Lifetime. It also looks at why investing is the best way to get inflation-beating returns over the long term, how savers can eke some precious extra interest from accounts, and why an Isa is worth having.

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: Adobe hits a new all-time high; Toys R Us calls it quits; Ulta Beauty wows; And Snap stumbles. Our analysts discuss those stories. Plus, CNBC media and entertainment reporter Julia Boorstin talks South by Southwest, media disruption, VR, and Disney.

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's Technology Editor, looks at Lego's over-production of bricks, at cars that can see round corners, robot jean-rippers, a robot carpenter, the levitating water drop, a solution to chewing gum on pavements and the camera designed to shock its user into taking better photographs.

In the latest episode of Track Record, Sue Dougan is joined by Amanda Watkin, the General Secretary of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. Amanda discusses her varied background of experience, ranging from working on oil rigs, to businesses in holistic and complementary therapies, to her commitment to local volunteering.

In the latest instalment of our podcast series, Live From Lord North Street, News Editor Kate Andrews discusses trade arrangements and customs unions post-Brexit with Shanker Singham, who is joining the IEA as the director of our new International Trade and Competition unit. The pair examine Theresa May’s recent speech – one of six in a series dubbed the ‘Road to Brexit’ – in which the PM set out five key tests with which to judge an eventual deal with the EU. They also examine the future of regulation outside of the European Union, and potential alternatives to full regulatory alignment.

Universities up and down the country have been shutting down as lecturers have walked out, arguing that the changes to their pension schemes could leave them thousands of pounds a year worse off in retirement. So this week we’re breaking down what the university strikes are all about, and what they tell us about everyone else’s pensions too. Ayeisha Thomas-Smith speaks to two striking lecturers: Nadine El-Enany, co-director of the Centre for Research on Race and Law at Birkbeck, and SOAS Senate chair Meera Sabaratnam. They are joined by writer and researcher Christine Berry, who is also a postgraduate student at Sheffield University.