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You have to feel for Rachel Reeves. After establishing a solid reputation in opposition, things haven’t gone to plan as Chancellor so far. Her Autumn Budget led to widespread criticism over tax rises on employment and extra costs for businesses, while questions abound over whether her plans will deliver the growth Labour promised voters. Now, a slow burn rise in the UK’s borrowing costs has led to gilt yields surpassing the levels seen after Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s ill-fated mini-Budget. Unfortunate, for a Labour party that has spend the past couple of years citing a gilt yield spike as evidence while banging on about Liz Truss ‘crashing the economy’ and Tory mortgage penalties. But is Britain’s current predicament Rachel Reeves' and Sir Keir Starmer’s fault, or do they just find themselves caught out by an unfortunate set of circumstances? Or is it a bit of both? Where did things start to go wrong? Was it the Budget, or was it the claimed ‘£22 billion black hole’ and months of miserabilism? And what are gilts and why do yields even matter? In this episode, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert dig into what’s gone wrong with Britain’s finances and what it means for people. Plus, in better news, Lee looks at the jobs that delivered the biggest pay rises last year and why. Simon explains what’s going on with the US hedge fund staging a raid on seven investment trusts — and why investors should make sure they vote. And finally, Lee catches up with Dave Fishwick as the new 'Bank of Dave' film is released.

Disney’s streaming numbers show ad-supported tiers are a hit with consumers, and Amazon takes aim at the approach that made Google’s ad business ubiquitous online. Ron Gross and Jason Moser discuss what the December Fed minutes, latest jobs numbers, and final holiday shopping figures say about the big picture, the first look at Disney’s ad-supported streaming numbers, Amazon’s plans to come after Google’s ad turf, and Meta’s changes to its content moderation policies. Then, 19 minutes in, Dave Meyer — head of real estate investing at Bigger Pockets — talks Matt Argersinger through the state of real estate and the markets he’s watching in 2025. Finally, 34 minutes in, Ron and Jason break down two stocks on their radar: Paylocity and Gannett. Stocks discussed: DAL, DIS, META, GOOG, GOOGL, AMZN, ADBE, GCI, PCTY. Host - Dylan Lewis; Guests - Jason Moser, Ron Gross, Dave Meyer, Matt Argersinger.

It’s Nvidia’s world, and we’re just living in it. David Meier and Mary Long discuss Jensen Huang’s CES keynote, plus all “the cool stuff that’s coming,” from personal supercomputers to self-driving trucks and AI-rendered worlds, the rollout of a digital workforce, and why Wall Street shrugged at Nvidia’s announcements. Then, 16 minutes in, Fool analyst Jason Moser joins for a closer look at PayPal, how the payments processor fell from recent highs, and why still-new CEO Alex Chriss is returning the company to what it does best. Companies mentioned: NVDA, PYPL. Host - Mary Long; Guests - David Meier, Jason Moser

Many people resort to alcohol as a means of tackling stress, but it can be a slippery slope downwards. Adam Cox, whose route to a different relationship with alcohol led to him becoming fully teetotal, explores ways of tapping into different alignments for dealing with stress in order to change that resort to alcohol.

Neil Shah of Edison Group discusses the latest bid for a UK company, Team Internet, which he discussed here recently as trading at a discount to its international peers. He points out that UK companies are vulnerable to takeover; the worry is that the UK market will keep shrinking, although he feels that value investing will return. With activist Saba Capital trying to replace the boards of 7 investment trusts, he feels that private investors must exercise their voting rights. Details are here on the AIC website. https://tinyurl.com/3ad9np9u.

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a healthy box office, up 42% YoY. New #1 Nosferatu is Robert Eggers' take on the 1922 Murnau classic with Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult. The design and photography is brilliant but the ripe dialogue caused giggles in the audience. At #3 is We Live In Time from the director of the brilliant Brooklyn. A non-linear telling of a relationship, James found it an amazing and rewarding emotional investment. On Netflix, he admired the Six Triple Eight, a surprisingly true WW2 tale of African American servicewomen in Europe. Although it's not subtle, it is very emotive and well-acted.

In our tech show, Steve Caplin discusses some of the mistakes made by Apple's new AI and how Meta is getting rid of fact checkers. He reports on some of the devices on show at Las Vegas's annual CES. There's a TV to keep an eye on children and pets, a robot with an arm for picking up shoes and socks – slowly, a lamp that is also a projector, a toaster-like phone battery swapper, a giant monitor with a shoulder strap, a way to keep all your rechargeable batteries in order, an air purifier that doubles as a cat perch, and a tiny, cat-shaped robot for cooling your coffee. Only one of these tickles his fancy as a possible purchase.

Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the Chancellor's options in face of the rise in UK borrowing costs and fall in sterling. Will Keir Starmer retain confidence in her? His own future will be determined by her fate. He also addreses the grooming inquiry call and vote, worrying it all feels like too little too late. We owe it to the victims to see that the Jay Report's findings are implemented and that failings in the system need to be addressed. He also discusses Elon Musk's intervention and his relationship with Reform.

Turnout at the 2024 general election was 59.7%, the lowest at a General Election since 2001, and 7.6 percentage points lower than in 2019. We are all keenly aware of the disproportionate number of Labour MPs (63.2%), notwithstanding their low overall polling (33.7%), but only now are we starting to see how young people have been disenfranchised by their poverty. This correlation between youth and poverty supports our consistent and strong calls for inter-generational rebalancing, and the need for more long-term focus in western democracies. If we don't take action, we run the risk of oscillating between an over-sized self-interested state driven by socialism and self-interested reactionaries driven by populism. Background music: 'Generations Away' by Unicorn Heads

In a not very happy start to the new year, Ofgem's energy price cap went up on 1 January from £1,717 to £1,738. Energy experts at Cornwall Insight say it will go up again in April - and by more than they initially expected. So why are bills rising? After all, we are a long way from the peak of the gas price crisis back in 2021. Georgie Frost and Helen Crane discuss when they will finally go back to normal — and whether fixed rates are a good deal again. The team also talk about an Octopus energy customer who was charged £5 to make a cup of tea thanks to a new smart meter. For homeowners starting 2025 by sticking their property on the market, we get some tips from estate agents on how to spruce up your home — and which renovations aren't worth the bother. We also discuss whether buyers really care about the smell of freshly baked bread, and what the best colour is to paint your front door. Helen speaks about the companies This is Money readers have moaned about most in 2024, and her highlights from the Crane on the Case column. And we finish off with some sensible tips from financial advisers about how to give your money a makeover in the new year.