Podcasts

Adam is joined by award winning entrepreneur and TedX speaker Lorenzo Escobal about how he was able to create a business, Inception Auto Detailing, at the young age of 18. They discuss that at such a young age an emphasis on branding and strategy is essential to turn the weakness into a strength. Lorenzo talks about the risky and perilous periods of his business journey and why it’s crucial to not just have a plan but solve problems quickly and be positioned in an appealing way to attract the most desirable clients.

The Government wants to scrap gas boilers in new homes by 2025 – but what are the viable alternatives? And how much will they cost? This week, This is Money editor Simon Lambert, reporter Grace Gausden and host Georgie Frost explore the options. And on the energy theme, you can now ask Alexa: when will my electricity bills be cheapest? Energy company Octopus has teamed up with Amazon, the creator of Alexa, and will pay customers to use electricity at off-peak periods. Sound too good to be true? We also talk 'dumb' smart meters and reveal which energy firm we're leaving en masse... Plus the team teach you the tips of the successful haggle as it emerges which telecoms giants are easiest to bargain with.

Knife crime is at a nine-year high. Everyone agrees: something must be done. Some politicians want more police on the streets, or tougher sentences. Others want cuts to mental health services to be reversed. One MP has suggested every knife in Britain should have a built-in GPS tracker – good luck with that. But knife crime it is a complex issue, and young people’s lives depend on policymakers getting it right. So today, Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is taking a big-picture look at the issue with one of the journalists who’s covered this issue more than perhaps any other: the Guardian’s editor-at-large, Gary Younge.

Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's show, Bro interviews financial-planning expert Wade Pfau about the assumptions underlying the 4% safe withdrawal rate in retirement, and whether they’re still valid. And Alison discusses whether an elite college degree is worth the price.

How do you go from life in the City to working as a football manager? That is what ex-Brentford, Rangers and Nottingham Forest manager – and former city trader - Mark Warburton did. He joins broadcaster Georgie Frost and assistant editor Lee Boyce to reveal how he made a leap from a 20-year career in London's financial world to football management at 40. He also discusses how there are no Brexit plans for English Premier League in Europe, whether the global power balance is shifting, and what this means financially for football in the UK. Meanwhile, after an exhilarating weekend of rugby – mainly for the Welsh and Scottish fans - the future of the Six Nations and indeed the sport itself appears to be at a crossroads, with potential private equity investment on the cards. And England coach Eddie Jones has vowed to get in a sports psychologist after letting a huge lead slip this weekend – are they worth hiring? Nike nails its colours to the mast with women's sport by announcing a shirt sponsorship deal for 14 nations ahead of the World Cup – and it's revealed that the England women's rugby team was paid exactly £0 for winning the Six Nations Grand Slam.

With just a week to go until Britain COULD leave the EU, political commentator Mike Indian asks who's to blame for the Brexit mess. While asking for an extension to the leaving date, Theresa May has put up the hackles of many MPs with her latest address. He also looks at what's happened to collective responsibility, the Speaker's ability to pick and choose which precedents he invokes and why Jeremy Corbyn walked out of a meeting with the PM because Chuka Umunna was present.

Steve Caplin gets excited by the prospects of Google's new cloud-based gaming platform, to be delivered through the Chrome browser. He also discusses the new Amazon Kindle entry model, the Myspace blunder that will make Myspace even more obscure than it had been before, James Bond's electric car, a bizarre drinks cooler, a cheesemaker that wasn't and what the ONS's inflation basket means for rabbits and smart speakers amongst other things.

Ian Forrest of The Share Centre looks at recent news from Kingfisher, losing its chief executive, Asos, where things aren't going to plan, Next, which claims Brexit could lead to cheaper prices and Inmarsat, subject of a new bid approach. He also looks ahead to what we might expect from Ferguson and Imperial Brands.

James Cameron-Wilson examines the UK box office chart, topped by Captain Marvel for the second week. UK comedy drama Fisherman's Friends enters at #2 while What Men Want, a remake of the Mel Gibson film What Women Wan, debuts at #3. James's DVD of the week is the Steve McQueen film Widows, starring Viola Davis and Liam Neeson. It, too, is a remake, of a Lynda La Plante 80s UK TV series.

With all the shenanigans in Westminster last week you could be forgiven for failing to register we had a Spring Statement at all – let alone clocked its finer points. Editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost fill you in on what you may have missed. It includes forecasts from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility on the UK economy, along with income growth, interest rates, the pound and house prices. We also have the true scale of the tax burden on families and businesses, with the overall tax take equivalent to 34.6% of Britain's economy, a level not seen since Harold Wilson was Prime Minister. Income tax receipts will rise nearly £54billion in the next five years, with steep rises forecast for National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax. A hike in probate 'fees' was waved through without a vote or debate in parliament by classifying it as a fee not a tax – but the ONS is now calling it a tax. The OBR also reveals that two flagship savings schemes have not been anywhere near as popular as planned, while boilers are out – as are feed-in tariffs from solar panels.