Podcasts

In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson discuss how science funding in the UK is disbursed to Universities. They examine what the Research Excellence Framework (REF) is and how it affects the work behaviours and career prospects of modern academics. Franz and Matt discuss the impact of metrics for evaluation purposes and consider how they are personally affected by the various University evaluation schemes such as REF, TEF and KEF. They also discuss the concept of ‘impact’ and how it encourages academics to go beyond their ‘ivory towers’ and engage society with their research.

Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's show, most of us have only a vague idea of how much we should be saving. Jeannie Thompson, Head of Workplace Solutions Thought Leadership at Fidelity Investments, explains the company’s age-based savings guidelines, the cost of health care in retirement, and how retirement planning can present more challenges for women.

It's fair to say environmental issues have moved to the forefront of the agenda in recent times. This week, editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost take a look at potential changes you can make to help the pound in your pocket turn a little greener. Simon explains his rallying cry for us to be his acronym 'Layby' rather than being labelled 'Nimbys'. Layby – or look after your back yard – is a movement to look after the country we live in. When it comes to investing, there is a growing movement where savers who want to combat climate change invest a small amount of money in the very companies eco-activists traditionally rally against, such as fossil fuel giants Shell and BP – so why? What can you do to be a more eco-friendly tourist? And finally… it's hard enough trying to predict how rapidly a normal car will depreciate, but estimating the loss of value of an electric vehicle is a whole other ball game. We reveal all.

Political commentator Mike Indian looks at Boris Johnson's meetings with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron and reckons that if no deal has been arranged by September 30th, a no-deal Brexit is inevitable. He rates the chance of a General Election the day after Halloween at 80% and looks at the report that the state pension age might have to rise to 75.

Steve Caplin looks at a facial recognition system for bartenders, the death of the man who invented computer passwords, the tweeter who got round a parental device ban thanks to a smart fridge, the new use for hot water at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and a robotic tail from Japan that is designed to prevent falls for old people.

Helal Miah of The Share Centre looks back at recent results from BHP, Persimmon, Wood Group and NMC Health and looks ahead to forthcoming figures from Bunzl, James Fisher, The Gym Group, Hays and Petrofac.

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the latest UK box office figures, with Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood storming into #1 position, despite its near three-hour length. Dora & The Lost City of Gold enters at #4, near-the-knuckle comedy Good Boys is in at #6 and Uglydolls debuts at #11. For his home release of the week, James admires the violent Western The Sisters Brothers, starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix.

Walmart stock pops on another strong quarter, while shares of Macy's and Tapestry both suffer double-digit losses. Ron Gross and Jason Moser analyse the current state of retail and share why they believe Nordstrom and Under Armour have genuine opportunities to improve their standing with investors. We discuss the latest with General Electric, NVIDIA, Darden Restaurants, Berkshire-Hathaway, and Hologic. Plus, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner discusses when to sell, when to add to your winners, investing takeaways from his recent trip to China, and his upcoming investor presentation on August 20th. (For more information on David Gardner's investor presentation visit http://Blast.Fool.com.)

Welcome to the This is Money with Georgie Frost, Editor Simon Lambert and assistant editor Lee Boyce Coming up on this week’s show…the pound. Bruised and battered by Brexit, it took another blow last week with some gloomy news about the UK economy. But with a no-deal potentially in the offing, how much more of a pounding will sterling take? The team look at what lies behind the decline, indeed why it’s fallen so much when jobs, wages and inflation aren’t doing badly, and what this means for interest rates and for the pound in your pocket. And don’t forget you can stay up to date with all the latest, breaking money news, just go to thisismoney.co.uk or download the app.

Welcome to This is MoneyBall, the podcast about what happens off the pitch. As it’s the European Championships this week, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce go back to school – and talk about hockey. On last week's episode, the pair explored one year to the Tokyo Olympics from the boxing perspective. The view from Team GB hockey, however, is somewhat different: saved from a position of bankruptcy to being recognised as one of the best-run governing bodies in British sport. Could other sports take a lesson from hockey? Plus, what is it like to be a pro in a marginal sport, not awash with cash? And how hard is it to switch countries that you represent?