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Neil Shah of Edison Group thinks the bid for Hargreaves Lansdown is interesting, feeling its prospects and potential growth rate might surprise a sceptical market. He sees there being a change in sentiment around the UK market, feeling that the perception that it is undervalued is being more widely appreciated. He also discusses the consumer sector where, if you look under the bonnet and are willing to go against the grain, there are green shoots, particularly in areas like travel and leisure.

James Cameron-Wilson cheers UK box office up 28%, thanks to the weather. But he regrets the agony of seeing #1 Garfield which is crass, loud & witless, celebrating violence and overeating. He found Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga better than Fury Road, having more dramatic bite and a welcome humanity although, given the near-torture porn content, he was surprised at the 15 certificate. Although it hasn't set the box office alight, he caught the versatile Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding, a funny, brutal and unexpected neo-noir which he thought really special. He waxed lyrical about Powell & Pressburger's 1949 WW2 film The Small Back Room, beautifully restored for home viewing. It's a claustrophobic, music-less, hard-boiled drama about a vanished world with a peerless cast and he rates it one of his favourite of the exalted Archers' films.

Steve Caplin discusses the latest AI gaffes, as it suggests rock eating and gluing cheese onto pizzas. There's a bright idea to cut cargo ship emissions. Glass windows can be made more efficient – with one drawback. AI can help vastly improve hearing aids. A crowd-funded exercise bike claims to provide a more realistic 3D interactive landscape. And a molecular biologist believes he's only ten years away from robotic head transplants.

Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the main parties' prospects for the UK's General Election. He thinks that this might be a day without a high turnout. With so many Tory MPs abandoning politics, he feels that the gap between the Conservative Party and its membership will become even wider. He discusses Labour's big Achilles' heel and laments the lack of an element of excitement, though he expects the TV debates to be interesting. A change of government, he says, could be a good thing. It will shake the Conservatives out of complacency, though Labour might find that the current control freakery will come back to haunt them.

Not my platitudes — but we do indeed need bold reforms, vision, groundbreaking solutions and to lead the edge of change. Our key concerns and calls for action are in this commentary, but they're not in the party manifestos: for example, the call to break the cycle of deprivation first made 50 years ago — we're still waiting. Euphemisms abound as the parties converge towards the central ground in the quest for your votes, but they draw together many different perspectives. Test them on issues such as a more egalitarian form of capitalism, smaller government, inter-generational rebalancing and a longer-term perspective — see where they stand as individuals. Background music: 'Hidden Agenda' by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200102.

The Prime Minister put an end to all the speculation this week by giving us the date for the general election: July 4. That comes as the latest inflation reading was 2.3%, a little above forecasts making a base rate cut next month now unlikely. Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce delve into the economic state of affairs and what the upcoming election could mean for your money, when it comes to tax, pensions, property and everything in-between. Nationwide Building Society posted pre-tax profits of £1.77bn this week and as a result, it is dishing out another year of 'Fairer Share' loyalty payouts of £100 — will you qualify? And not only that, it is now offering £200 to switchers and an exclusive 5.5% loyalty savings rate. How does early retirement sound to you? It seems it appeals to a lot of us because searches on Google for 'retire early' have increased threefold in the last decade. But how much would you be willing to sacrifice to achieve it? At the extreme end, we have the FIRE movement, advocating saving 70% of your income. Special guest, former This is Money editor Andrew Oxlade, had had enough — he explains why. Lastly, This is Money has a new regular series called Modern Treasures with valuation expert Dan Hatfield — Lee reveals all about the first one, all about first edition books, and gives details on how to get YOUR items valued for free.

The tech giant continues to crush analysts’ lofty expectations. Asit Sharma joins Ricky Mulvey to discuss the boom of Nvidia’s data center business, future growth stories for the company, and some questions about its valuation. Then, 13 minutes in, Matt Frankel and Mary Long continue their conversation about David and Goliath business match-ups. Companies discussed: NVDA, META, CAVA, SG, CMG, MKL, KNSL. Host - Ricky Mulvey; Guests - Asit Sharma, Mary Long, Matt Frankel

A lot, actually. Bill Mann and Ricky Mulvey discuss JPMorgan’s investor day and CEO Jamie Dimon’s thoughts on stock buybacks and inflation. They also talk about the shift toward fast-casual dining and Red Lobster’s bankruptcy. Then, 17 minutes in, Alison Southwick and Robert Brokamp answer listener questions about 403(b) accounts and saving for college. Companies discussed: JPM, CAVA, SG, TXRH. Host - Ricky Mulvey; Guests - Bill Mann, Alison Southwick, Robert Brokamp

It's very natural to avoid situations and actions that raise anxiety levels, but retreat into the bunker can just lead to becoming a recluse. There is another way — to challenge those anxieties by tackling them head on. Adam Cox takes a Roman quote from Marcus Aurelius to show that this is a time-honoured way of facing up to our challenges — by moving towards the very thing that the flight instinct is telling us to move away from. Could this have been a motivation for Rishi Sunak when he stepped out in the Downing Street rain on Wednesday 22nd May? Image source: BBC News

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University offers some thoughts on the General Election, explaining that Rishi Sunak is not a lucky PM. This is, he points out, a year in which half of humanity is going to the polls, with 1.4 billion Indians entitled to vote. But with press freedoms being curtailed, is the country sleepwalking into becominging a managed democracy and can it maintain growth while reducing its serious unemployment problems, particularly among young graduates? He also looks at the problems global companies have with mounting geo-political tensions and why economists need to think precisely about populism, as political scientists have for some time.