Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Technology editor Steve Caplin ponders the feasibility of the first-ever robotic milk round in Milton Keynes. He also looks at Facebook's rebranding, the new Echo Dot, bad news for drone users, Google shaming slow websites, Trainline's automatic refunds and a way to turn any smartphone into a conventional computer for £150.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, where Joker tops the box office for a sixth successive week, breaking records not seen since Avatar did the same a decade ago. The Good Liar enters at #5 with Midway managing #6. For home viewing James recommends the Danny Boyle/Richard Curtis comedy Yesterday, an opinion seconded by presenter Simon Rose.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Week That Was and The Week Ahead
Ian Forrest of The Share Centre looks back at the latest news from ITV, Vodafone, British Land and Burberry. And he looks ahead to what we might expect when Easyjet, Kingfisher and Centrica report soon.
Guests: Ian Forrest
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Original Broadcast: How did we get here? A history of the UK’s political parties.
Simon Rose is joined by political commentator and author of The Groucho Tendency blog, Mike Indian, to discuss how UK politics has got to where it is today. In this episode, Simon and Mike discuss the history and role of the Commons Speaker.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University looks at some of the more unusual aspects of the UK General Election, now five weeks away. He also looks at the life of former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky and his role in the demise of the USSR and considers what lessons we might usefully learn from the two currency collapses suffered by Germany in the past century.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Week That Was and The Week Ahead
Ian Forrest of The Share Centre looks at IAG's takeover of Air Europa, Mothercare putting its UK business into administration and news from Marks & Spencer, Imperial Brands and Rolls Royce. He also looks ahead to expected figures from Taylor Wimpey, Wincanton and British Land.
Guests: Ian Forrest
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James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office chart, where Joker reigns supreme for a fifth week, the first film to do so since Avatar a decade ago. Stephen King's Doctor Sleep can only make #4 while Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You enters at #9. For home release, James recommends British drama The Souvenir.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Steve Caplin laments the arrival of AI job interviewers at Unilever, while an Estonian company is using AI for workers after a pay rise. You could get £100,000 to be the face of a series of humanoid robots, get a camera drone to direct part of your movie, play an app game in real-world streets, trim your hedges and garden with a new device, get an ebike with facial recognition unlocking or order the tallest and widest business jet ever.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian looks at how the general election he predicted at the beginning of the year finally came about, at some of the MPs who are standing down (and some who aren't) and at the departure of John Bercow as Speaker. He discusses the suspension of Keith Vaz, the most severe ever that will have no effect thanks to the election. And he looks at which might happen when the country goes to the polls.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Steve Caplin hails the arrival of driverless cars on the streets of London, narrower, windier, busier and wetter than the US. Also, how an artificial leaf can make synthetic gas, a car powered by cow dung, the first selfies in space, an ecologically-sound lunchbox, a wallet-sized fork and spoon and how driverless taxis might make the streets of our cities even busier.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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