Podcasts

Latest minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) came out yesterday. Apparently committee members want an interest rate rise sooner rather than later. Gregory Daco, Head of US Macroeconomics at Oxford Economics, joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher to discuss.

Georgie Frost was joined by financial planner David Braithwaite from Citrus Financial. Today on the agenda, they discussed the confusion around how switching mobile phone providers is costing us 5.8 billion pounds every year. Plus they look into why doubling your fruit and veg intake to 10 portions a day may give us longer lives. All these stories and more on The News Review.

In the first round of the French presidential election, polls see support for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen growing. Aarti Shankar, Policy Analyst at Open Europe joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher to give her on take on this.

On Black Friday 2015 Michelle McGagh jumped off the consumer bandwagon and committed to changing her relationship with money: by pledging not to spend anything for 12 months. She blogged about her experience and has now written a book, The No Spend Year: How You Can Spend Less and Live More. She joined Georgie in the studio.

The Government has announced it's making some changes to the bereavement benefits it pays out to widows and widowers. It says it's modernising the system to better reflect today's families, but there are claims that in fact the changes could mean a bereaved family loses up to 12,000 pounds. Personal finance journalist Donna Ferguson has been investigating the issue, and joined Share Radio's Sara Macham to talk about it in more detail. Sara began by asking Donna about how the payments work at the moment.

Every year Travel Technology Europe comes to London's Kensington Olympia to showcase some of the leading companies and new start ups in the travel industry. With technology playing an increasingly vital role in how we plan and organise trips the show is an ideal place to see some of the suppliers leading this change. Our reporter Tom Hill visited the show to meet some of the 260 exhibitors helping shape the travel industry.

The family of a British IS fighter who carried out a suicide attack in Iraq deny he received £1m in compensation after being freed from Guantanamo Bay. In other news, Cressida Dick is the new Metropolitan Police commissioner, becoming the first woman to take charge of London's police force in its 188-year history. And Donald Trump's government has revoked guidance to US public schools that allowed transgender students to use toilets matching their gender identity. To discuss all this, Josh Lowe of Newsweek joined Georgie Frost.

Joining Georgie Frost to discuss the latest market headlines was Share Radio's very own Nigel Cassidy. A busy morning of Company Announcements starting with Barclays. The bank has seen its annual pre-tax profits nearly treble. Across the group they've risen to 3.2 billion pounds - compared with 1.1 billion in 2015. Moving away from banking, we have also heard from BAE Systems this morning.

Stemcells have become increasingly important in the treatment of various diseases. However like most new medical technology stem cell treatment can cost a fortune. One company that is aiming to make stem cell treatment for blood cancers more accessible and affordable is Wide Cells. Georgie Frost sat down with WideCells chief executive Joao Andrad and started by asking him to explain what stem cell treatment is.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), in partnership with DHL, has published its latest Quarterly International Trade Outlook. It shows that confidence among exporters that their turnover will improve jumped in the fourth quarter of 2016, ahead of further moves towards Brexit. Joining Nigel Cassidy is Mike Spicer, Director of Research and Economics at the BCC to go through the report.