Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is impressed by a Chinese car with predictive suspension that remains level going over bumps and can even travel on three wheels. China also launches pilotless air taxis. There's a personal VTOL and a zero-emission hydrogen-electric jet. The AI Therabot can lower depression by 51%. A top accounting firm is having to train its GenZ workers how to use telephones. AI can improve your prospects for internet dating. And the University of San Diego has developed a pneumatic 3D-printed six-legged soft-body robot.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that people should not look at Trump's tariffs in isolation. They are only part of his strategy. The press ignored his remarks on the US needing legal immigration, supply-side reforms and a new tax regime to unleash the country's potential. There are risks but, if he succeeds, we could be in a different world. While the UK government considers tinkering with ISAs, Tim says that savings are underestimated and that you can't have capitalism without capital and we need more financial education. He also cheers the fact that the UK will have its first rocket launch this year, enabling us to participate in the vast and growing satellite market.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that if the markets turn against the government then it is real trouble. If Reeves increases taxes in the Autumn, as many expect, then we will be in a doom loop. He admires an idea from Dr. Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute for using a blockchain approach to speed up the lamentable speed of the UK housing market. Why can the Americans move so easily? And he discusses the record fine imposed on the University of Sussex over the case involving Professor Kathleen Stock, a big victory for defenders of free speech.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
With box office + 63%, James Cameron-Wilson says #1 Snow White is neither as bad nor good as some would have it. Rachel Zegler lights up the screen but the CGI dwarves make it feel like an animated remake. It's not a new classic. #7 The Alto Knights has Robert de Niro playing 2 rival gangsters at once, a truly bad idea. It's misjudged and incredibly boring. James recommends documentary A Thinking Game if you can find it. O'Dessa, on Disney+, is a dotty, cheap and nasty, post-apocalyptic rock opera, with Sadie Sink considerably better than the movie which is a real rag bag of influences.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin discusses a hybrid STOL plane which is as quiet as a vacuum cleaner and only needs a 100m-long runway. Amazon's plan for UK drone deliveries might be kiboshed by the CAA insisting on one pilot for each drone. There's an example of just how realistic GPT is when you chat to it. Placebos are the most effective way of treating PMS. Running a marathon shrinks your brain. There's a bizarre crowdfunded watch. Farmers with unhappy crops are being offered a (possible) solution. And heavily-polluting concrete may be a thing of the past with the future use of seawater instead of sand.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Russ Mould says that with the OBR lowering its growth and raising its inflation target, stagflation looks even more likely. The concept of "fiscal headroom", he says, is pure rhubarb but the bond market seemed content with what Rachel Reeves had to say, even though the UK's interest bill is higher than the defence budget. However, tariffs are going to complicate things. With the NASDAQ this year's worst market so far and Hong Kong the best, the mood music is changing. Investors must think about whether the environment for the next ten years is going to be different than the previous ten.
Guests: Russ Mould
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that box office is down another 24% this week. Steven Soderbeg's spy thriller Black Bag is #3. With the likes of Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett it looks good but is dry, unbelieveable and contrived. He was far keener on #7 Last Breath, a true-life feature based on an earlier documentary about a deep sea rescue. Starring Woody Harrelson it feels totally authentic and is very tense but, if anything, rather too short. James recommends the restoration of 1969's A Touch of Love with Sandy Dennis and Ian McKeellan. It's a searing slice of social commentary which swept James away. A real time capsule, it was hugely influential on the NHS at the time.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin delves into the world of tech. Virgin expects to have an eVTOL air taxi service in the UK relatively soon. In San Francisco, driverless cars got 600 parking tickets last year. AI apparently can't tell analogue time or interpret calendars. Gravity batteries could be used in the lift shafts of abandoned mines. The Chinese company BYD has developed batteries that can add 250 miles range in 5 minutes. Longbow is the first British electric sports car manufacturer, while Volkswagen has an entry-level eCar for just €20,000. And there are two intriguing ways of getting hydration while on the move.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the fact that a fifth of UK adults are still not looking for work, what used to be called NEETS. The Government has to focus on getting as many people as it can into work sustainably, laying the groundwork for what it will be judged for at the next election. Mike believes that its communication strategy has improved massively. Starmer has come into his own on the international stage, arguably moving into the space at the top of Europe while the US is playing silly buggers with foreign policy. While it will take time to ramp up Europe's defence capability, governments have to think the unthinkable.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Finlay Mathers and Neil Shah of Edison Group discuss the move by investors out of the US and into the UK and other European markets, as Trump's tariffs produce a downturn for the American economy and equities. The UK market is far cheaper, has less downside, and it doesn't take much money moving from the big seven US megacaps to stimulate change in European markets. Finlay also discusses BAE Systems which is up 25% in the past twelve months. As a beneficiary of increased defence spending and with an order backlog of £78bn, it has strong growth potential, especially in maritime and armoured vehicles.
Guests: Finlay Mathers
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