Podcasts

Political commentator Alex Clark discusses the Brexit state of play with Simon Rose from both the UK and the EU points of view. He looks at GroKo, the grand coalition in German politics and asks if it will last. And he takes a peek at the EU, stuck between a clock and a hard place when it comes to the Timelords in the European Parliament.

The question of whether Britain should stay in the EU’s customs union has dominated the news cycle recently – with the CBI and other high profile voices suggesting that remaining in the Customs Union would be consistent with Britain’s vote to Leave the EU. But would this be a political possibility? And would it be wise?We’re joined by Julian Jessop, the IEA’s Chief Economist and Head of the Brexit Unit, to give us update on these developments. Julian explains what the Customs Union is, how it differs from the Single Market, and explores some of the pros and cons of staying in it.

In this week’s Mobile News, Matthew Cook explores how manufacturers approach innovation, and how this affects the consumer. Plus, where will the next big innovation be coming from? Guests on the show this week are GfK’s Key Account Director, Imran Choudhary; Honor UK's Sales and Marketing Director, Wilkin Lee; and Francisco Jeronimo, Research Director of European Mobile Devices at the International Data Corporation.

Steve Caplin marvels at Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket AND his Boring Company's flamethrowers. Naturally, there are also self-parking slippers, the first robot to be sacked, a portable bathing system for dogs and a new keyboard to compete with the old QWERTY one.

Ian Forrest, investment research analyst at The Share Centre looks back at the last few extraordinary days of trading on world stock markets and whether increased volatility is good or bad for investors. He also reviews figures from BP and Compass, still reeling from the tragic death of its chief executive. He looks forward to full year numbers from Coca Cola HBC and Convatec.

James Cameron-Wilson looks at another extraordinary week for the UK box office, with The Greatest Showman unprecedentedly taking the No. 1 slot after being in lower positions for six weeks. He also reviews new films Den of Thieves, Phantom Thread, Journey's End and Lies We Tell.

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 :Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, eBay, Facebook, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and PayPal report earnings; And Hostess takes the cake with its new bonus plan; Our analysts weigh in on those stories and share some stocks on their radar.

The Chancellor asked for ideas for inheritance tax to be simplified this week, but should we even have a death tax at all? On this week’s podcast Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost look at how it works, why it is unpopular, and how you can avoid it. Simon suggests his plan to simplify it and get more people paying by removing those fiddly reliefs and slashing the rate to 20%. But we also consider the argument for taxing inheritance (and unearned property wealth) more heavily. Later on the podcast, we discuss the problem of interest-only timebomb mortgages and whether homeowners are burying their heads in the sand. Also on the agenda is what’s wrong with M&S and investing in emerging markets and why they could still be a good long-term bet, even after funds rose almost 30% last year.

The resale of tickets has been around for as long as humans have charged entry to events. Evidence of ticket ‘touting’ goes all the way back to Ancient Rome. In the 21st century though, it’s becoming an increasingly controversial practice. Companies like Viagogo, Seatwave and Stubhub now offer tickets to otherwise hard-to-reach events – but, often, at a hefty price. IEA News Editor Kate Andrews interviews Dr Steve Davies, the IEA’s Head of Education and author of new report Digital Resellers: The case for Secondary Ticket Markets. Steve believes that ticket resale is simply one aspect of the ‘Sharing Economy’ which enables voluntary transactions to take place between willing buyers and sellers. Those who aim to resell tickets for a profit, Steve argues, are themselves taking on considerable risk. Kate and Steve examine the economics, and the morality, of ticket resale, and take a look at the way artists like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Madonna use market mechanisms to sell their products.

The New Economics Foundation -the independent think tank and charity campaigning for a fairer, sustainable economy- brought you a new podcast from the its archive. This week Polly Trenow from the Women Budget Group joins Kirsty Styles to discuss ways of measuring unpaid work.