Podcasts

Steve Caplin looks at a phone that folds, another that has six cameras and one (a weighty one) with batteries that last for weeks. There's an electric 2-seater car with built-in 5G, another electric car that charges 80% in less than 5 minutes. After the ice bucket and mannequin challenge, there's now the cheese challenge. There are self-aware fish and dolls resembling dead partners for the bereaved.

James Cameron-Wilson lavishes praise on Stephen Merchant's #1 entry at the box office, Fighting With My Family, which pushes the new Lego Movie into second place. Another British entry, The Aftermath, with Keira Knightly, entes at #6. What They Had with Hilary Swank only makes #38. He explains why nobody knows the true figures for turkey Serenity with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. His DVD of the week is the controversial Lars von Trier film The House That Jack Built.

Are there business lessons to be learnt from the way musicians interact with their fans? Mark Jennings, CEO of Subba Media believes so. Talking to Simon Rose, he explains how to have an open conversation which leads to better engagement with your customer base. Authenticity, he says, is the key to building a supportive community. He also passes on a business tip divulged to him by Midge Ure.

Helal Miah of The Share Centre looks back at recent news from Aviva, Melrose, Just Eat and Keller and looks ahead to what we might expect from Morrison's (particularly in the light of the abortive Sainsbury's/Asda tie-up), Prudential, Lookers and Hikma.

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show – live from Austin, Texas - : MercadoLibre hits a new high; Booking Holdings falls on guidance; And Etsy crafts a twenty-percent rise. Analysts Andy Cross and Jason Moser dig into those stories and talk Square, Teladoc, and Lucky Charms-like beer. And we revisit Motley Fool CEO Tom Gardner's conversation with Southwest Airlines co-founder Herb Kelleher.

National Savings and Investments has launched Ernie 5.0 – its fifth generation machine that draws the Premium Bond numbers. It now takes just 12 minutes for numbers to be generated by the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment compared to 10 days back in the early 1970s. This week, editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost answer the question – what would you do if you gained a windfall, big or small, either from the Premium Bonds or by other means? What does it mean to win big and what are the first things you need to think about if you’re lucky enough to come into some cash? We also discuss a 57-year-old reader who was the latest star in our regular Money Pit Stop series, who wants to make sure his own investment portfolio can withstand downturns and provide him with a good income at retirement.

Adam Cox is joined by former engineer and now life and leadership coach, Mario Giraldo, to talk about accessing higher levels of potential. Mario is based in Austria and works with executives and business leaders to enable them to access more from their potential. Mario’s background in engineering means he has an analytical and pragmatic approach to solving human problems and enabling people to get the very most from their resources. He shares his 5 tips to level up and explains why thinking of yourself as a high performance car is a useful metaphor to raise your game.

How important is being able communicate effectively and calmly as a leader? This is Money assistant editor Lee Boyce and broadcaster Georgie Frost have Steve Sallis, founder of Solutions Mindset, in the studio this week for secrets on how to give team talks and man manage troublesome 'star' players. Elsewhere, Nike saw more than a billion dollars wiped of its value after new Duke College basketball star Zion Williamson – dubbed the new LeBron – saw his shoe 'explode' just 30-odd seconds into a match-up against North Carolina. Former President of the United States, Barack Obama was there and tickets were selling for five-figure sums. We have self-confessed sneaker geek George Sullivan, chief executive of Sole Supplier, to tell us about the impact, and how important sports endorsement deals are now for consumers. And our question of the week: is it fair that Wimbledon are offering hospitality tickets to ladies final for £1,550 a pop – but for the men's final, it's almost three times the price?

Historically, economics as a discipline has been dominated by men – and despite increases in the proportion of female lecturers and professors in recent years, women remain under-represented. In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Sarah Smith, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol and head of the Royal Economics Society’s Women’s Committee. They discuss the need to change girls’ perceptions of what economists actually do, and to encourage more young women to take economics at A-level and at University. Sarah explains how within academia there remain barriers to career progression for women and that raising awareness of this amongst the male-dominated hierarchies is an important step in helping to level the playing field. The discussion closes thinking about what economics can learn from other disciplines that have made greater strides towards gender equality.

Two years ago, nurses and doctors warned that the annual NHS winter crisis was now ​‘the new normal’. In the cold weather, hospitals were overwhelmed by patients that they did not have the space to treat. But we’ve had a milder winter this year. Is the same true for the health service? The prime minister announced a new 10 year plan for the NHS in England, promising ​‘world class’ care. But critics say nothing much has changed – and that the NHS will continue to lurch from crisis to crisis. This week, we’re taking the NHS’ temperature with nurse and campaigner Danielle Tiplady, lead organiser of Just Treatment Diarmaid McDonald, and NEF senior researcher Daniel Button.