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Join Share Radio's Alex Clark and Chris Bishop of Forbes for their Conversations from Africa. Today: a night of long knives has left a downgrade to junk status a real possibility for South Africa.

On the latest Serious Money, we talked about the pensions taper, to find out what it is and how it works. Plus, many local bank branches are closing down, we discussed what this means for many people living in rural areas who cannot get online services.

On our latest Magazine Review, we looked at some of the stories dominating the pages of the country's leading business magazines, including the triggering of Article 50 which marked the official start to Brexit, and Tesco agreeing to compensate eligible shareholders for misleading them over its profits. Share Radio's Juliette Foster was joined by financial commentator Jonathan Compton, and Jake Sumner of Respublica.

Entertainment One, the company behind popular children's character Peppa Pig, released its Q4 update - are they too reliant on Peppa's success? And challenger bank Shawbrook shares spike - will a takeover deal be done? Rodney Hobson, financial commentator, joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher to assess the day's biggest company stories.

Donald Tusk said the EU has agreed to start pre-Brexit trade talks, but the new arrangements will be finalised only once the UK has officially left the bloc. Plus, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon signed a letter that requests a Second Independence Referendum. Share Radio's Ed Bowsher was joined by Asa Bennett from the Telegraph, all of today's major political stories.

Mike Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the FBI he's ready to be interviewed on the alleged links between Trump and Russia, in exchange for immunity. To find out more, Share Radio's Ed Bowsher was joined by Thomas Mills, US Foreign Policy expert at Lancaster University.

Welcome to the This is Money Show on Share Radio, brought to you in partnership with NS&I. The starting gun was finally pulled on Brexit negotiations this week with the triggering of Article 50. What will the two years bring for markets and how will it hit UK consumers? So far the previous gloomy forecasts of the Bank of England have been replaced by warnings of high consumer spending and growing household debt. Making sense of what all this means for the pound in our pockets Georgie Frost is joined by Editor Simon Lambert and Reporter Rebecca Rutt. Plus this week find out just what the price sweet spot is for the perfect bottle of wine.

Increasingly volatile spending patterns could start to worry regulators - the latest Office for National Statistics data found savings ratios dropped to their lowest levels since records began in 1963, while disposable income for UK households has seen the sharpest drop in almost three years. Should caution return to the market? For insight into this story and more, Jeremy Stretch, head of G10 FX Strategy at CIBC Capital Markets, joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher.

A report from KPMG for the British Hospitality Association (BHA) revealed the sector could be facing a 60,000 staff shortfall every year if EU migration was restricted. Share Radio's Ed Bowsher was joined by Vernon Hunt, Director of Public Affairs at the BHA.

The approach of the remaining 27 EU member states towards Brexit negotiations will be set out later. European Council President Donald Tusk will lay out his proposals. The UK government wants a new free trade deal to be discussed alongside any possible divorce bill. But this has been rejected by the German chancellor. To discuss what we can expect to be laid out by the European Union, Georgie Frost was joined by Ryan Heath, Senior correspondent at POLITICO Europe.