Podcasts

The supermarkets are full of chocolate bunnies and the daffodils are in full bloom - it can only mean one thing: the Easter holidays are just around the corner. It also means investors can forget about jittery markets for a while, as European stock exchanges will close for a four-day spring break.

This is In My Experience, where Share Radio's Simon Rose grapples with inspiring stories that shape careers. On today's programme, Simon is joined by Jerry Hayes - former Conservative MP, barrister & political commentator. Full of tall tales of unspeakable debauchery, Jerry provides a thundering account of the offbeat lunacy of Westminster, Fleet Street and his life.

It's time to talk politics: top diplomats from Russia and the United States are meeting in Moscow to try to work out differences over Syria.

On today's Wrap: Tesco unveils its first rise in UK sales for seven years while operating profits, which reflects the performance of the business, have broken through the £1bn mark, wage growth slips below the rate of inflation - putting a squeeze on household spending power, profits at bookseller and stationer WH Smith rise 3.75% over the last six months and much more. Sarah Lowther is joined in studio by Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Could Brexit push Britain out of the Space Race? UK companies are concerned that they could be frozen out of lucrative European space contracts once Britain has left the EU. That's because Brussels has laid out new terms for the multi-billion euro "Galileo" satellite navigation system. These terms mean the UK would have to negotiate new security relationships to keep working on the project post-Brexit. To discuss this more Ed was joined by Professor Martin Barstow, Director of the Leicester Institute of Space & Earth Observation.

Foreign governments, such as Russia and China, may have been responsible for the collapse of a voter registration website in the run-up to the EU referendum, that's according to the House of Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee. To find out more, Ed spoke to John Ashmore, Chief reporter at Politics Home.

Tesco's results today were mixed with same store sales rising 0.9% even though pre-tax profits fell 39% due to exceptional costs arising from the accounting scandal in 2014. For more on these results Ed spoke with Ben Kumar of 7 Investment Management.

US Airline United are at the centre of a social media storm after a video emerged of them dragging a man from a flight and apparently injuring him in the process. The internet was quick to vent vitriol at the company on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere. So what kind of damage do these social media reactions cause companies? And can they control the fire of internet user anger? Matt Cox asked Dan Appleby, Head of Client Services at social media marketing agency Drummond Central, and the North East city head of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, to find out more.

Moneywise product researcher Adam Williams and web manager Gary Adams join Juliette in the studio. They look at how to keep down the rising costs of train travel and the best methods of budgeting to get your finances in order.

UK high streets are expected to be busy this Easter weekend, with forecasters predicting an increase in the number of people going out to spend money on food and drink. Figures from retail analyst Springboard predict an 8.8% increase in footfall, a reversal of last year's decline. To find out what's driving consumer spending Share Radio's Tom Hill spoke to Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard.