Podcasts

Steve Caplin takes us to the coldest place in the universe (only 250 miles away), gives us the chance to try out an Iron Man-style flying suit and tells us about a new scheme for renting phone batteries, how the French are banning smartphones at school and how the bubble car is making a return. He also discusses a chess board which moves the pieces automatically, a website for calculating quantities for groups big and small and what's wrong with ant emojis.

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: Apple reaches a trillion-dollar milestone; Baidu faces a Google-sized potential competitor; Blue Apron fails to deliver; And Red Robin and TripAdvisor lose altitude.

Interest rates have finally risen above 0.5 per cent for the first time in almost a decade. The Bank of England has decided that the UK's economy is healthy enough to finally get above the financial crisis emergency level, but was the hike a wise move or a mistake. Of those in favour, some have been calling for a rate rise for a long time, others believe we must try to get back to normal before recession hits. But those opposed believe even this tiny shift up to a very low base rate level of 0.75 per cent, is a gamble too far from the Monetary Policy Committee's ratesetters. On this week's podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost dive into the rate rise. Why did the bank hike rates, who will it affect, why do interest rates even move up and down and how did they end up at 0.5 per cent in the first place? Also on this week's show, Lee introduces us to the world of micro-saving, we discuss the case of the financial adviser who suddenly ask for £10,000 more and Simon tries to show he is down with the kids who are making money by selling on Depop.

You’re listening to Live from Lord North Street, a podcast from the Institute of Economic Affairs. Back in June, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia, because the owner didn’t like her association with President Donald Trump’s administration. Is this an act of discrimination, perfectly within one’s right, or both? Today we’re joined by Dr Steve Davies, Head of Education at the IEA, to discuss the concept of civility in public life. Interviewed by IEA News Editor Kate Andrews, Steve argues that any private establishment has the right to refuse service, but that doing so does not come without consequence. The pair discuss famous instances of discrimination, perpetuated by both the private sector and the state, and try to identify what the lines are between civil dissent and dangerously overstepping the mark.

Adam talks to cardiologist Rick Shakes and Founder of Prescan Eddy Van Heel about why we have regular check ups in several areas of our life such as car MOT’s and regular dental check ups but rarely have a thorough health check that can look for the warning signs of serious medical issues such as cancer, heart disease and others. The founder of Prescan also reveals that his own company detected a form on cancer early enough to avoid what would otherwise be a potentially deadly outcome. They discuss why we have a tendency to bury our head in the sand when it comes to the most precious commodity – out health!

Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump; Erdogan in Turkey and the Five Star Movement in Italy; Podemos in Spain and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. All of them have been described as populists. But what does ​‘populism’ actually mean? How can it include people with wildly different ideologies under the same umbrella? Is it possible to be a progressive populist – and even if it is, should progressives use that label? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by academic and writer Eliane Glaser, and Michael Walker from Novara Media.

Helal Miah of The Share Centre looks at recent announcements from BP, BAE Systems, Lloyds Bank and Next. He also looks ahead to what we might expect from HSBC, G4S, Prudential and Intertek.

James Cameron Wilson looks at a UK cinema box office that has suddenly caught fire, with Mission Impossible: Fallout knocking Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! off the Number One slot. As well as discussing this coming Sunday's one-day 50th anniversary re-release of Mel Brooks' The Producers, James also looks at the home release of the Todd Haynes' film Wonderstruck