Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian summarises the UK's local election results which were a good night for Reform and the Greens but a rout for Labour, particularly in England and Wales. They don't tell us a lot, though, about where UK politics is going, except that voters are moving in different directions. It has caused panic in Labour ranks, with a steady drip of those calling for Starmer to give a timetable for his resignation. He is bloody-minded and may survive for longer, reshuffling his cabinet. Where, though, are the intellectuals and big thinkers of earlier years? Mike hopes that Ed Miliband moves to the Treasury, where his talents could make a big difference. Ultimately, popularity is less important than ideas; people want their lives to be materially better and easier and that is more important than who is in Number Ten.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin wonders how exciting the NBC show based around Wordle will be. There's a beer station with surge pricing in China and satirical video games machines have appeared in Washington. Audible have opened a bookshop in New York with no books, just audiobooks. You can now buy the Adidas shoes that broke the two-hour Marathon record. There is uproar at the Chelsea Flower Show because a gardener has launched an AI garden design app. Universities in Rome and Belgium have come up with a performance exoskeleton to train violinists. There's a crowdfunded egg-shaped mouse. Car rental companies lost all their records because of a destructive AI bot. And Colossal Biosciences have decided, after trying to resurrect woolly mammoths and direwolves, to bring back the bluebuck antelope.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Liam O'Byrne of Edison highlights Seraphim Space Investment Trust, which has a diversified portfolio of primarily private space technology companies, businesses which would otherwise be very hard for investors to reach. The shares have risen over 300% in a year, an amazing re-rating with its one-time 70% discount turning into a 56% premium. Despite the rise, there are several positive catalysts ahead. Molten Ventures, in the FTSE250, is a venture capital firm focussing on private high-growth tech companies. Its recent trading update makes for encouraging reading. It trades at a discount of 25% but the management is working to close that.
Guests: Liam O'Byrne
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is impressed by the Sabicap, a beanie hat which enables you to type merely by thinking. For the deaf, a vibrating pillow sleeve will alert them in the case of fire or burglar alarms. A study shows that friendly AI chatbots are much less accurate. Richard Dawkins believes that chatbots are conscious. Tokyo Airport is using humanoid robots as baggage handlers. Those wanting hard-to-keep Arowana fish can now get a robot version. There's a robot chess tutor. And Steve has bought a mini icemaker, which he recommends.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 The Devil Wears Prada 2 has taken 85% of the first film's total in just 3 days. Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway have reunited, along with much of the behind-the-camera talent. It's a formulaic and superficial pleasure but has plenty of laughs. James thinks Primavera, about the composer Vivaldi, is one of the best films of the year: it is showing in select Picturehouse and Curzon hardtops. He feels everyone should watch Netflix's documentary The Plastic Detox, which he says has changed his life. It's full of good humour, despite its message about the toxic chemicals in plastics which alter our hormones. It's horrifying but educational and actually made a massive difference to six formerly childless couples who were the detox guinea pigs. He advises everybody to give a wide berth to the awful Greenland 2: Migration, an apocalyptic thriller with Gerard Butler.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University is alarmed by the fact that 16% of Britain's 16-24 year olds are unemployed. This is worse than Spain and Greece, who used to be the outliers. Cost pressures, AI, bad health and a skills mismatch are all creating a perfect storm which will have a long-term detrimental effect for many. Tony Blair's thinktank is urging Labour to scrap the "unaffordable" state pension Triple Lock. This is among the most radical policy thinking for almost 100 years. Effectively Blair is saying that the welfare state is heading towards bankruptcy. And while we are most affected by local government, rather than national, there are few bodies focussing on it. Yet council overreach on fines, roads, bins, bollards and the like are creating a collapse in trust between people and those who have most effect on their lives.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Russ Mould of A J Bell says that oil briefly touched $125 a barrel because the "blockade of the blockage" is cutting off 1/5 of the global supply. However, he points out that this is a paper future oil price. The current price is higher, as one might expect with tight supply. There are, of course, other types of oil which are currently much cheaper because they go nowhere near Iran. The equity market is pricing in a speedy solution but it is just as easy to argue that the blockade will continue and that stagflation will be the result. It isn't only oil that is the problem, of course. Urea and helium are both essential commodities also facing supply problems. Even if the markets are correct and things de-escalate, in the face of so much that has been destroyed or damaged, it is unlikely to be a smooth ride ahead.
Guests: Russ Mould
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin majors on robots. A robot won a half marathon against human runners, another beat elite players at table tennis while one in Poland chased away wild boars in a town. Heartwarmingly, a controlled robot in Ukraine rescued a 77-year-old woman escaping Russian shelling. A 23-year-old Polish influencer hoping to raise £100,000 for a cancer charity ended up with over £50 million. NASA will let you spell out your name using features on Earth. Mark Zuckerberg is going to beam solar power from space, but to power AI rather than homes. And Steve admires the world's narrowest car and a shopping bag that can increase in size and grow wheels.
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian analyses the recent political kerfuffle involving Olly Robbins, Morgan McSweeney & Keir Starmer. It has exposed qualities lacking in the PM, particularly his lack of curiosity, his failure to grasp the nettle and to give direction. But he appears to have 9 lives, particularly given the fact that there is no obvious successor. It may be that the economic response to events matters more than who is in Number Ten. Given the ropy relationship between the US government and Starmer, the King's visit to the United States and his address to the US Congress has shown the value of the Royal Family when it comes to soft diplomatic power. It was a considerable PR victory, reminding the Americans why we are an important diplomatic ally. But the UK needs a fundamental re-evaluation of our geo-political alliances and should work to be more independent.
Guests: Mike Indian
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James Cameron-Wilson says that Michael's £11.5m opening was 68% of the weekend take. It's the biggest opening for a musical biopic but, under Antoine Fuqua's direction, it's a hagiography telling only half of the Michael Jackson story. With his nephew in the starring role and six producers having the surname Jackson, perhaps that's not surprising. Overly affectionate, it doesn't feel real but that won't deter his fans. On Netflix, the survival thriller Apex stars Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton. It gripped James from the off. The less you know about the plot, the better. It delivers in spades as a thriller but it does go to some very dark places. Watch it if you dare. As for Roommates, also on Netflix, this is a crude college comedy which is offensive mechanical dross. The longer it went on, the more depressed James became.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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