Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
In the second of two end-of-year Bigger Picture specials, we look back at some of topics discussed in 2020 by Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University. In one of his last discussions of the year, he wondered if a new, cultural Iron Curtain is splitting Europe into east and west. In other programmes, he mused on political psychology and the degrees of openness across the political spectrum, the Government's planning system reforms, whether China's Belt and Road Initiative is the success it is perceived to be and he lamented the loss of one of Britain's great thinkers.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks back over 2020 with Simon Rose. Here, looking at the second half of the year, he discusses self-driving hospital beds, robot dolphins in Chinese acquariums, a fly-in cinema, fitbits for lobsters, Alexa's regional accent, jet suit paramedics in the Lake District, making diamonds from thin air, NASA turning stars into sounds and the sale of the first ever mouse for rather more than the auction estimate of $800.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
Revealing the top grossing films of 2020 in the UK, James Cameron-Wilson looks back at what was an extraordinary year, with cinemas not just struggling to fill their seats but for long periods forbidden even to open their doors. James reveals his favoured films (1917, Portrait of a Lady on Fire & I Am Greta) as well as the top acting performances of the year. Although the Oscars have been pushed back, he assesses who the hot contenders for the coveted statuettes are.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture, Christmas edition
In the first of two end-of-year Bigger Picture specials, we look back at some of topics discussed n 2020 by Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University. The pandemic was the predominant topic, of course. Here, Tim wondered why China engaged in a propaganda campaign to persuade every country in the world to go into lockdown. He also considered if the World's Central Banks had set us up for a catastrophic fail, the Pope's attack on property rights, why we should study Qatar's future plans, the success of Big Pharma and why the British Army needs its own Me Too Moment.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks back over 2020 with Simon Rose. Here he looks back over the first six months of the year, marvelling over such things as the fake social network that loves its users, Japanese drinking crisps, the world's first flat wine bottle, 5G underpants, the robot toilet roll dispenser, the voice of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian priest and the Aston Martin DB5 with copies of all James Bond's gadgets - a snip at £2.75m, even if you aren't allowed to drive it on public roads.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
Low-tiered James Cameron-Wilson managed to get to see Wonder Woman 1984, one of the only blockbusters released this year. He also reviews Netflix's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, with Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman tipped for Oscars. He is less enthusiastic about Dreamland with Margot Robbie or Victorian melodrama Gone Away. However, he strongly recommends Nothing To Hide, a hilarious French comedy, which is one of several remakes of a recent Italian film.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson, overjoyed to be back in a cinema again, discusses the boost to the box office just as restrictions in many areas will reverse it. He reviews Netflix's female assassin movie Ava, starring Jessica Chastain. He looks at the Argentinian film Murder Me, Monster on Curzon Home Cinema. And he delights in the exuberance of The Prom, another Netflix title, starring James Corden Meryl Streep.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Share Radio's tech guru, Steve Caplin, is delighted - in a week of space failures - that NASA had some success on Mars by playing a high-tech game of whack-a-mole. The Royal Mail delivered a parcel to the Isle of Mull by drone. Basketball hoops have become "smart". The first ever computer mouse is being auctioned off. A Kickstarter project aims to end trips to the optician. The UK unveils its first electric forecourt. And Shanghai launches its fully autonomous taxi fleet - with no safety drivers.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Week That Was and The Week Ahead
Graham Spooner of The Share Centre looks back at recent news from Bunzl, one of the beneficiaries of the pandemic, WPP and Dixons Carphone, which has benefitted from the success of its online business. With little company news to look ahead to as the holidays approach, Graham discusses the latest on banks paying dividends and on how the market is still prone to reacting to the latest news on the Brexit talks.
Guests: Graham Spooner
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
In his final live interview of 2020, Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University explains how we live in a world of ever-increasing information - rather than physical - warfare and how the United Nations Human Rights Council has become a proxy battleground for the world powers. He argues that the United Kingdom is an ideal trade partner for the United States, whatever its new President's views on Brexit. And, after the death of John Le Carré, he muses on the British obsession with spies from Bond to Smiley.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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