Podcasts

It's time to talk politics Today: to the surprise of the whole country, the Prime Minister has called for a general election on June the 8th.

On today's Wrap: the value of the pound rose sharply after Theresa May announced she wants to hold an early general election while the FTSE has suffered its worst day of trade in three months; Weetabix is being sold to US company Post Holdings for £1.4 billion; the number of shoppers visiting the high street grew at its fastest rate for three years in March

Twenty days after Britain’s dramatic vote to leave the European Union, with the government still reeling from the political aftershock, a new Prime Minister captured Downing Street. Few were more surprised by this unexpected turn of events than Theresa May herself. Simon speaks to Rosa Prince, author of a new biography of the enigmatic Prime Minister.

Robo-investment has been one of the big themes of the last year. The idea is you fill out a questionnaire on a robo-investment website, and then the site's algorithms decide how to invest your money. Ed Bowsher recently spoke to Adam French, the co-founder of one of the leading robo-investment sites, Scalable Capital, to find out more about the sector.

Coming up on Company Casebook this week we’re meeting the team behind University Cribs, the student housing search engine matching students with letting agents, developers and halls of residence with over 120,000 rooms now listed on their site. They’re already operating in 26 university towns in England and Wales and have just added London. Find out how they’ve built their business on Company Casebook this week

Ed Bowsher is joined by Daniel Thomas, deputy companies editor at the Financial Times to discuss the latest company news, including Weetabix being sold to a US firm, and the effect the early General Election announcement has had on the markets.

Did anyone see Theresa May's shocking General Election announcement coming? Ed Bowsher was joined by John Rentoul, Chief Political Commentator at the Independent, to hear if he was surprised or if it was inevitable.

The pound was firmly up after the surprise election news, wiping out earlier losses. To better understand the announcement's effect on the markets, Ed Bowsher was joined by John Barrass, deputy chief executive of the Wealth Management Association.

Stephen is an accountant by training but has worked in tech startups since the early 1980s. The Start Up Funding Club looks after about 80 new companies and has been going strong for the last five years. He joins Sue to talk about his career and the music that's inspired him along the way.

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for an early General Election on June 8th. The Prime Minster has implored MPs to pass an election motion tomorrow in Parliament allowing the process to begin. The bill would need the backing of two-thirds of MPs. To get his reaction to the news and what it means for Britain, Ed Bowsher was joined by Mike Indian, senior political analyst at DeHaviland.