Podcasts

Black Friday is on and bargain hunting shoppers may spend an estimated £2 billion trying to beat expected new year price rises. And according to the online retailing association IMRG, well over half the spend will be done online. So it might seem surprising to find that two old pre-internet age stores are being revived on the High Street. Safeway and Austin Reed are both staging a comeback, so Matt Cox has been hearing from Mintel’s Retail Analyst, Richard Perks, about the return of these old names.

The European Parliament's President, Martin Schulz, is to run for election in the German parliament next year, instead of seeking a third term leading MEPs. And his replacement could matter for Britain. Politico Europe's Ryan Heath said it could well be the former Belgian prime minister, who's currently due to lead the EU in the Brexit negotiations. Ryan spoke to Share Radio’s Nigel Cassidy from Brussels.

Josh Lowe of Newsweek joined Share Radio Breakfast for his politics round-up. There are calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to reverse her flagship boardroom reforms on executive pay. Company bosses and the Bank of England’s Chief Economist have suggested such intervention will damage the motivation and retention of good business leaders. Josh offered his view on this, as well as the reports that former Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to help block Britain's exit from the EU.

Leading Chinese online travel agent Ctrip has agreed to acquire the price comparison site Skyscanner for approximately £1.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Skyscanner’s current management team will continue to manage its operations independently as part of the Ctrip group. Our correspondent in Scotland, Maurice Smith, has been looking into the deal.

Official figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) show that consumer credit expanded last month at the fastest pace in nearly ten years. Mortgage approvals meanwhile hit a five-month high. Alastair Douglas is the Chief of TotallyMoney.com, the price comparison site focusing on credit cards, loans and mortgages. Alastair has been digesting these latest borrowing trends and he joined Share Radio to delve into the findings.

When it first crossed the Atlantic, Black Friday was a one day affair when we sat back in amusement watching punch-ups over cheap TVs. Now, hundreds of household name retailers are already dangling Black Friday carrots in front of our noses. Last year, amazon.co.uk sold more than 7.4 million items on the day at a rate of 86 items per second and are expecting to beat that this year. Fergal Gara is a Director of Amazon UK, and he joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss the event.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on Thursday finished their annual analysis of the Autumn Statement, spending all night closely scouring the facts and figures to find out what the Chancellor is really saying. To get a grasp of the ins and outs of how the IFS saw the Autumn Statement, Matt Cox went along to the event to investigate.

Simon was joined by Tim Evans, professor of Business and Political Economy at Middlesex University. They discussed: 1. Understanding the job of the Chancellor of the Exchequer: Why Brexiteers are wrong to complain that the Autumn statement's forecasts are too gloomy. 2. The importance of BoE Chief Economist, Andy Haldane, criticising modern economists. 3. The onward march of the economics and politics of marijuana legalisation.

On the Travel Guide we like to take a look at some of the most popular holiday destinations- and speak to a local to get the insider's gen. This week, Olivia Demetriades spoke to Jolijn Koper, a guide for Tours By Locals in the Netherlands, and began by asking her what to do if she could spend a day in Amsterdam.

Simon Rose and Sarah Tucker welcomed neuroscientist, Dr Tara Swart, to the studio, to discuss the psychological damage continual business travel does on CEOs, and business people in general, and how to stop that.