Podcasts

Can we make goodness fashionable once more? Colin Bloom is founder of The Wilberforce Alliance, invoking the spirit of the man behind Britain's abolition of slavery, to inspire and equip people destined for public life. It is his hope that the coarseness and intemperance of politics and public life in general can, over time, be reversed. In conversation with Simon Rose, he discusses his hope that the Wilberforce Alliance can, within 15 years, produce 100,000 people embodying Wilberforce's values.

As Wimbledon 2018 enters its second week, Wimbledon fever is at its peak – but how are the people behind the spectacle working to make sure the UK’s most famous tennis championships live up to the hype? Adam Cox is joined by Alex Willis, Head of Communications, Content and Digital at the All England Club; and Sam Seddon, the IBM Wimbledon Client and Programme Executive, to talk about how artificial intelligence is changing the way fans experience Wimbledon – both on and off the courts.

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: “Investing is not the study of finance, it’s the study of how people behave with money"; Award-winning financial columnist Morgan Housel stops by Fool HQ to share how psychology drives financial decisions and why long tails drive everything.

Since the late 1990s, there has been a push to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children - with governments viewing free early education as key to the achievement of this aim. Dr Jo Blanden, Reader in Economics and Research Director of the School of Economics at the University of Surrey, joins Peter Urwin to talk of her work investigating whether free nursery care impacts children’s educational performance. Overall the suggestion is that these policies have been associated with a large amount of "dead weight" - using taxpayers' money to support people in doing things that they would have done anyway. They consider whether the findings present a challenge to the suggestion that early years interventions provide best returns; or is it the specifics of this policy that need rethinking?

In this week’s programme: Hotel booking sites have been told to sort themselves out following an investigation by the competition watchdog over whether they work in the best interest of consumers. Plus – whisper it softly – but there may be some good news for savers, including from a bank called “Marcus”… but don’t be fooled by the friendly-sounding name. Moving into the realms of retirement – how much do you really need to save, and will having a specific figure in mind help you achieve it? And finally, we take a look at the winners and losers of the World Cup so far… both on and off the pitch!

Today we’re joined by the IEA’s Director General Mark Littlewood and Research Director Jamie Whyte on the 70th birthday of the National Health Service. Interviewed by News Editor Kate Andrews, they discuss how – despite all the praise around the NHS the past few weeks – the system is an international laggard on many key measures including health outcomes, survival rates and waiting times. Whilst cash injections may help in the short term, they will prove to be a waste of taxpayers’ money if structural changes are not made alongside investment. Far from celebrating the NHS this week, policymakers should be considering wholesale reform of the centralised system to improve patient care and save lives.

New Economics Foundation weekly podcast is back with a hot topic: Environment. In this week podcast Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Dave Powell, head of environment at the New Economics Foundation, and Alice Bell, director at climate charity 10:10 to discuss one of the most fashionable economic ideas of the past decade: The idea that a little prod from government can encourage us to change our behaviour and be better citizens, maybe without even realising it. Meanwhile, good old-fashioned regulation seems to have been decidedly out of favour with recent governments – and leaving the market to just do its thing isn’t all that popular with campaigners. When it comes to the environment, do all of these approaches have their place? What works best? And are there better or worse ways to make sure our economy doesn’t wreck the planet?

Adam Cox is joined by international speaker and TV presenter Luke Scott, to talk about why he rejected corporate life as sales director of a major software firm to build his own lifestyle brand. Luke talks about how few business owners and managers lead effectively, and why “conscious leadership” can make a dramatic difference to results. He also provides some tips about how to build a personal brand, and shares why it’s an exciting time to celebrate what makes you stand out – and how that can be monetised. Find out more at www.lukescottofficial.com.

Ian Forrest of The Share Centre looks at recent news from Tesco, Vedanta Resources and Associated British Foods. He also looks ahead to what we might expect from Burberry, MIcro Focus and Experian.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University ponders what a "no deal" Brexit might be like if we had to fall back on the WTO default option. He also looks at the growing number of Russian journalists fighting back against disinformation and fake news and laments the worsening situation in Venezuela, where inflation has now passed 40,000%.