Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin explains the research showing how junk food inhibits the brain. There's a tailor-made Bugatti watch costing a mere $340,000. British scientists plan to weigh the world's trees with a newly-launched satellite. A Newcastle company hopes to grow dinosaur hides in their lab. Urinals could soon be made a little less splashy. Google are trying to talk to dolphins. And Chocolate Digestives are 100 and we've apparently been eating them wrongly for a century.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson boosts #2 Sinners again but also enjoyed #4 The Accountant 2, again starring Ben Affleck 8 years on. With a plot like a chess game it is smart, entertaining and often very funny. #22 is The Friend with Naomi Watts & Bill Murray. A handsomely acted look at death, it feels like the adaptation it is and lacks drama. Much better is #28 Julie Keeps Quiet. This rivetting and topical Belgian film about a young tennis player in crisis has an electric central performance. James enjoyed Viola Davis as the US President in G20 on Amazon Prime. A topical thriller it is entertaining but silly, falling about halfway between Segal and Cruise.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Chloe Won Yung Shin of Edison Group thinks investors should keep an eye out for Metlen. It's a Greek energy and metals company with a €6bn market cap heading for a second listing in London later in the year, where it may join the FTSE100. It's Europe's only aluminium producer and has an increasing interest in producing critical metals. IP Group invests in intellectual property businesses, mainly in the UK. As a result of recent headwinds it is trading at over 70% discount to net asset value. But there are plenty of positives about the business. Both are discussed on Edison's website. https://www.edisongroup.com
Guests: Chloe Won Yung Shin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University believes China's big problem is not Trump but its domestic economic woes. The extraordinary property bubble has left more vacant homes than the massive population. With high youth unemployment, China is potentially in a downward spiral, fuelled by widespread pessimism. Tony Blair has exposed the schism in Labour over the dash to Net Zero and with Trump's push for energy supremacy and oil prices falling, we may soon get the called-for "reset of the debate". While it's unclear if Trump's first 100 days will be judged a success, he has nonetheless pushed through some amazing reforms and changed global discourse in a way not seen since the days of Thatcher & Reagan.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says UK box office is up 83% YoY. He recommends three films in the chart. Ryan Coogler's Sinners at #2 is an outstanding piece of filmmaking which defies caegorisation but brings to mind Tarantino. It's a powerful, sensual and immersive experience that stays with you. #3 The Penguin Lessons isn't the feelgood family film you might expect but a wise, charming and funny political thriller starring Steve Coogan set in 1970s Argentina. At #5 Alex Gardland's Warfare aims to be the most realistic war film ever and succeeds. It's a terrific film but harrowing. On Amazon Prime Holland, with Nicole Kidman, tries to be a comedic black thriller like Fargo but doesn't quite work.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin says there's a new colour, "Olo", but you need a laser blasted into your eye to see it. Instead of flu jabs, you may soon be able to chew a gum made with Egyptian kidney beans. There's a new high-tech stethoscope monitor you can wear at home, a folding colour ebook reader, AI-powered gloves to help the near half million deaf-blind people in the UK, augmented carpentry, a motorised tape measure and a weapon to take down drones. Singapore scientists have found a way to get energy from rain. And in Beijing, robots competed in a half marathon, with varying results.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian wonders what lasting settlement there can be in Ukraine given the capriciousness of the Trump administration. We are seeing a redrawing of global alliances, with the US returning to its former isolationist policy. In the wake of the Supreme Court gender ruling, he considers the divisiveness and politicisation of the topic and how nuance is being lost. We should be more considerate to those who feel they have been born in the wrong body. Whatever your view on the edicts of the Papacy, the Pope is still a political figure with a difference and an integral moral force in an increasingly turbulent world. The new Pope wiill have a difficult task ahead of him.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Russ Mould of A J Bell says that when the US President doesn't know what's happening next, how can anybody else, particularly when the reasons given for imposing tariffs are so contradictory? Investing should be about sleeping well at night. If your investments are keeping you awake, perhaps you should make them safer. Think about asset allocation and whether America – and tech stocks – will lead the way in future. Have some spare cash in case you need it and you may be able to take advantage of volatile market dips. As Warren Buffett says, stock markets are there to enable the transfer of wealth from the impatient to the patient.
Guests: Russ Mould
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that box iffice is down 52% although A Minecraft Movie has powered ahead to a £31m take. #2 The Amateur has Rami Malek as a desk-bound CIA guy who wants to get trained up for revenge. But it's ludicrous and underlit and very disappointing. #6 the unheralded Drop is a thriller with Meghann Fahy on a date that goes badly wrong. Think of Speed in a restaurant. James was completely gripped by the ingenious plot. He also admires #16 Mr. Burton with Toby Jones the teacher who inspired Richard Burton to at. It's the sort of little film that Britain does so well and deserves an audience. Simon recommends the new Eureka double-disc silent Laurel & Hardy restoration.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is desperate to buy the Kawasaki robot horse which can do everything a horse can but is powered by hydrogen. Sadly it's still only a beautifully-realised CGI concept. But there's a renewable energy motorbike with a roof covered with solar panels and a wind turbine. Or a WalkCar the size of a laptop. Or even an electric skateboard that goes at 45mph. Ford have patented a gear stick for electric cars, for drivers that miss them. There's an aircraft that can land itself, a weird-looking robot chess player, a trial postbox with a barcode reader to scan parcels, a Sardinian beach you'll need an app to visit and a tip on how to hear better in noisy rooms without spending a penny – though it ought to mean domino players can hear brilliantly.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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