Podcasts

Welcome to the This is Money and Share Radio podcast, brought to you in partnership with NS&I. It’s been quite a stressful week both real and imagined. The UK banking system was put through its paces in the Bank of England’s stress test which simulated a range of disaster scenarios from crashing house prices to rising unemployment. The biggest failure proved to be the majority tax payer owned RBS, whilst it was ‘must try harder’ for Barclays and Standard Chartered. Unfortunately not all this week’s stresses have been virtual though and rising fuel prices contributed to the collapse of GB Energy affecting 160,000 customers. When it comes to finding a new supplier there’s certainly plenty of choice at least as more and more smaller firms spring up- so just what is going on with Britain’s energy market? Georgie Frost is joined by Editor Simon Lambert and Consumer Affairs Editor Lee Boyce to find out. Also this week they look at the scams tricking people out of personal data and gig tickets as well as the meaty issue of what else is in the new plastic fiver. This is Money is presented by Georgie Frost in partnership with NS&I.

Georgie Frost is joined in the studio by Share Radio's senior analyst Ed Bowsher. On the agenda they discuss the big story of the day - Liberal Democrats’ Sarah Olney has overturned a 23,000 majority to pull off a shock win in a by-election, against former Tory MP Zac Goldsmith. Elsewhere, train fares in Britain are to go up by an average of 2.3% from 2 January. Plus Plans to save money at HM Revenue & Customs by moving more of its operations online are leading towards a repeat of a catastrophic collapse” in customer service. All these stories and more on The News Review.

Train fares in Britain will go up by 2.3%, on average, from January the 2nd. The Rail Delivery Group says the vast majority of the cash gets pumped back in to running services. But campaign groups say some passengers are "finding themselves priced off the railways". Tony Miles, Contributing Editor from Rail Business Intelligence, joined Share Radio Breakfast to offer his reaction.

Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent and Associate Editor at Politico Europe, joined Share Radio Breakfast to give his weekly take on European Politics. The Italian referendum takes centre stage. Is Italian PM Matteo Renzi heading for defeat? Ryan also looks at the Austria presidential elections, and gives the latest from France.

Applications from foreign workers who want to work in the UK tech industry have increased tenfold over the last year. It's after the government decided to relax the rules, allowing groups of coders to apply as a group rather than run the risk of being rejected individually. Tech City UK, the organisation that processes the visa applications, says applications had spiked since the Brexit referendum. James Brydges asked Oliver Smith, tech reporter at the Memo, and Megan Caywood, Chief Platform Officer at Starling bank, about what had been driving the demand.

On the eve of Small Business Saturday, its Director, Michelle Ovens, joined Share Radio Breakfast to look ahead to the event. Research by the Small Business Saturday campaign found that being our own boss makes us happier. It also said that economic and political uncertainty has failed to leave its mark on the sector. Michelle offered further insight into this.

On this day in 2001, the American energy giant Enron filed for bankruptcy. Enron took accounting fraud to a whole new level, and its demise even led to the disintegration of its accountants Arthur Andersen. Its collapse was the worst business failure in US corporate history to date. Matt Cox has been investigating the causes and consequences of the fall, and the lessons we’ve learnt over a decade and a half later.

On Sunday, Italy holds a referendum. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wants the power to streamline the country's creaking political system, reducing the power of upper house senators from blocking what he sees as essential economic reforms. But many are predicting he will lose. The worry for the markets is that a large protest vote could give the populist Five Star movement enough momentum to put Italy on a slippery slope to leave the Euro currency zone, plunging Europe into a fresh political and financial crisis. Dijedon 'Doni' Imeri is a country risk analyst for IHS Markit and he joined Share Radio Breakfast.

Oil prices are sitting at their highest level in a year. For now, financial markets seem convinced the Opec cartel's new deal to limit global crude production will stick. Motoring organisations have already warned petrol prices may rise by 9p a litre, adding about £5 to the average cost of filling up a car. But what of Oil's cousin, natural gas. How has the market for that been affected? Matt Cox has been hearing from Edgar van der Meer, Senior Analyst at industry specialists NRG Expert.

Simon and Peter discuss the run-up to the Italian referendum, French Republicans' primary, Mrs May and God, Corporate governance green paper & Investigatory Powers Act, which has just received the Royal Assent