Share Sounds

Jack Sommers of The Huffington Post joined Share Radio Breakfast to give his weekly politics round-up. Chancellor Philip Hammond has called for transitional arrangements to “smooth” Britain’s exit from the EU. What did Jack make of this, and is there the possibility of a cabinet split? Jack also discusses the political implications of the Southern Rail strikes, and gives his take on the events in Aleppo.

Iran's state airline says it's signed a $16.6 billion deal with US aircraft maker Boeing. Iran Air will buy 80 passenger planes as part of a 10-year deal, in the biggest business agreement between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. So is this the first big sign of a thawing relationship, or will matters be complicated by President-Elect Trump's indication of anti-Iranian policies? Matt Cox spoke to Howard Wheeldon, Founder of Wheeldon Strategic Advisory, to find out more.

Italy's largest bank, UniCredit, has announced plans to cut 14,000 jobs by 2019. It may also say it will raise €13 billion euros in the country's biggest share issue, to clean up its balance sheet and boost longer-term profitability. The move comes at a troubled time for Italian banks and the economy, with the country's third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, at risk of failure. Bruce Packard is a Senior Analyst at bank rating and advisory organisation, Lafferty Group, and he joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss.

The UK is building 15% fewer homes than it was in the five years before the downturn in 2008, according to a new report by Carter Jonas that has laid bare the disjointed residential construction industry. For more on this, Lee Layton, a Research Analyst at Carter Jonas, joined Share Radio Breakfast to offer an insight into the research.

Barclays has agreed to sell its French retail banking operations to European private equity firm, AnaCap Financial Partners. This follows the UK bank’s decision to sell its credit arms in Spain and Portugal. The bank says it's going to focus on its core markets in the UK and US. So is this the Barclays equivalent of Brexit? Share Radio’s Matt Cox spoke to Jeremy Cook, Chief Economist from World First, to find out more about the decision and what it will mean.

India's monetary credibility took a hit following the government's decision to remove large denomination notes from circulation one month ago. Prices in the country have reportedly collapsed and consumer sales fell by as much as 30% in November. Now, rating agency Fitch has cut its growth forecast for the country from 7.4% to 6.9% and some economists believe the damage could be even worse. Robert Van Egghen reports.

Gadgets and Gizmos with Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin.

Tim Price, Manager of the VT Price Value Portfolio and the author of 'Investing through the looking glass: a rational guide to irrational financial markets', looks at some of the issues facing investors.

Are your saving habits on track to meet your retirement expectations? Recently, Gregor Watt spoke to Miss Thrifty, a Personal Finance Blogger & Money Saving Expert and Jacqui Bateson from Skipton to find out why many of us have big plans for our retirement and how we will spend our savings, yet almost half of us have yet to start saving anything in to a pension.

Lack of sleep is costing the UK economy billions of pounds and sleep-deprivation is putting us at risk of an early death. Research firm Rand Europe found the effect on sleep deprivation on productivity and health was losing the UK up to £40 billion each year - nearly 2% of the country's GDP. Sleeping for just one extra hour a night could add £24 billion to the UK economy. Olivia Demetriades spoke to Marco Hafner, a research leader at RAND Europe. She began by asking why a lack of sleep costs so much.