Podcasts

Despite all the political uncertainty this year, the housing market has been relatively unaffected in 2016, with house prices and lending continuing to grow. Gregor Watt was joined by Bernard Clarke of the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Sue Dougan is joined on the line with Hannah Maundrell, editor of money.co.uk. Today on the agenda, they discussed potential Christmas electricity blackouts, a 51% alcohol tax and have you finished your Christmas shopping if you're under 40? A poll says three quarters haven't. All these stories and more on The News Review.

In the careers clinic, we discuss how it's not always easy to find a new job, but changing your career is even more challenging. For many burned-out or multi-talented folks who are sitting on skills they're not getting a chance to use, changing fields is the only way to keep from losing their marbles. To discuss this further, Sue joined by James Innes, founder of the CV centre and author of five best-selling careers books.

Office perks may be a thing of the past, with less than a quarter (24%) of companies planning to throw an office party this Christmas. New research reveals almost a third of Brits (31%) will work until Christmas Eve this year and just under one in five (18%) will be in the office throughout the Christmas period. Tom Hellier from Willis Towers Watson, a human resources consulting firm told Share's Melanie Wray what they had found.

We are being urged to check our energy prices and consider fixing, as experts warn that gas and electricity prices are likely to continue rising in 2017 by as much as 5%. According to energy comparison website Energyhelpline.com, over the past six months the cheapest energy prices have risen from £734 a year in June to £870 a year now. This all comes as customers of Big Six energy provider EDF are facing the first bill hike in three years as power costs rise. To find out more, Sue Dougan spoke on the line to Energyhelpline's Mark Todd.

As Donald Trump prepares for his presidency he has been naming officials and speaking out against the Central Intelligence Agency. It comes after FBI director James B. Comey and the director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. agreed with a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump win the White House. Share Radio's Colin Bloom discovered what the president elect's latest moves might mean, by speaking with Ross Anderson of the University of Cambridge.

Alex Lydall, Senior 360 FX dealer at corporate forex broker Foenix Partners, joined Share Radio to discuss the market reaction to the U.S. Federal Reserve announcement of a three interest rates hikes in 2017, and what can we expect from President-elect Trump going forward.

Big Sofa, a technology company of just over thirty people, is preparing to float on Aim, the debut investment market, and may begin trading next week. The founders apparently started the business seven years ago travelling the UK, interviewing consumers to get some insight into customer behaviour. They quizzed people on a large inflatable sofa, and videoed the results, believing the insights they got were better than those from more conventional research. But it was all a bit laborious transcribing the content, so today Big Sofa uses clever software that mines all the info. Simon Lidington, CEO of Big Sofa, joined Share Radio to discuss.

Investors have had to be smart to steer their way through the markets this year. There have been some great opportunities for returns but of course people can and have lost all their gains and more through poor calls and bad timing. It can be a lot more fun and you can certainly learn a lot about running a portfolio if you are part of an investment club. Dary McGovern, a member of the Sensatus Investment Club and Managing Director of Timetotrade, a company that produces investment software, joined Share Radio to discuss investments in 2016.

With declining sales and some well publicised product disasters, 2016 was a difficult year for smartphone manufacturers. But analysts are predicting 2017 could be even tougher even as one old name, Nokia, prepares to enter the market once again. Share Radio's Robert Van Egghen reports.