Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that Reform's rise in the opinion polls could see "The Blob" mounting a new "Project Fear". But it could backfire, particularly as some people like rebelling against the establishment. Will Labour fracture as the Conservatives did? With populations declining and welfare and pension liabilities mushrooming, the financial situation of western democracies is becoming increasingly unstable. With no incentive for politicians to explain how serious the situation is, are our societies doomed? And with the railways being renationaised, Tim considers the oscillation between state and private control over 200 years and wonders why we can't emulate the railway success of that other island state, Japan.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin says that the Vienna Tourist Board will be celebrating Strauss's bicentenary by beaming The Blue Danube to Voyager 1. Google's 3D meeting platform is almost here. Claude AI has taken to blackmailing engineers who try to turn it off by scouring their emails for indiscretions. Could our phones soon tell us if we are dehydrated? Dyson have a new vacuum with all the gubbins in the stick. The Chinese are developing contact lenses that enable you to see in the dark. Scientists have worked out how to steer cockroaches. And in Japan you can pay for a shoplifting experience, without breaking the law.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Chloe Wong Yun Shin of Edison Group highlights two of the Baillie Gifford funds that presented at the company's recent conference. The US Growth Trust's manager is still very excited about American companies. They are very volatile, so patience is crucial, but the fund remains a conviction investor, in it for the long term. The Schiehallion Fund specialises in later stage private businesses, particularly those capable of transformational growth. Ever more businesses are staying private longer. In the US 87% of companies with over $100m revenue are private. The Fund is aiming to list on the main UK market in the first quarter of 2026.
Guests: Chloe Wong Yun Shing
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
Box office rose 30% despite the good weather, says James Cameron-Wilson. He was surprisingly entertained by #1 Final Destination: Bloodlines, the latest instalment of the long-running series about the inventiveness of the Grim Reaper. Canadian singer Weeknd virtually plays himself in #5 Hurry Up Tomorrow, a self-indulgent vanity project. On Netflix, James found the apparently true-ish story Nonnas, about Vince Vaughn setting up a restaurant with Italian grandmothers as chefs, to be formulaic and implausible but a pleasant and undemanding quiet-night-in movie.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is bowled over by Google's new AI which can produce videos with incredibly realistic speech in 24 languages with any accent, though perhaps not Geordie. The much-awaited unifying parking app may be about to happen. 3D beard trimming-guides are here. A gene-edited spider can make red fluorescent silk. A new jet is far more efficient by removing the passenger windows. There's a tennis-serving AI robot. Northern Rail's environmentally-friendly cleaning agent turns out to be water. Cambridge has found a solution to cows falling into the Cam. And US solar farms could be turned off by the Chinese.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses Labour's U-turn on the winter fuel payment, which would have been far less damaging if it had happened earlier. The party's communications, particularly on the domestic front, need to be considerably more savvy. The UK-EU reset deal should improve our relationship with Europe but it is inevitable we would become a rule taker after leaving. The biggest losers, yet again, are Britain's fishermen. He also comments on the leaked memo about Angela Rayne's suggested tax rises, exposing differences between her and the Chancellor. If rumours of a reshuffle soon are true, it could be a mistake and should happen later.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Fixed interest investors, says Russ Mould of A J Bell, are concerned that Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" will add to the US's current $36 trillion debt pile, with debt interest already accounting for a fifth of the US tax take. Things that serve as hedges against inflation, stagflation or policy error, such as gold, are rising again. Is silver – challenging the $33-an-ounce level again – being unduly overlooked? A recent bid could mean many miners are undervalued, particularly given the conductive metal's many uses in the move to net zero and the fact that demand has outstripped supply for the last five years. As the price climbs, so the miners become more profitable and nervous investors may find silver worth considering.
Guests: Russ Mould
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson reports box office down 50% because of the fine weather. But he delighted in #4 Ocean with David Attenborough in which the 99-year-old reports on mankind's final frontier. Demanding to be seen on the big screen, this amazing film is an existential experience which cannot be bettered. #14 The Wedding Banquet is an updated version of Ang Lee's movie and is an exquisite comedy drama which is very funny and real, with warm, eccentric characters. James also recommends Amazon Prime's Assessment, a psychological sci-fi thriller with Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
In Utrecht, says Steve Caplin, they've installed a fish video doorbell so the lockkeeper can open the lock for spawning fish. Scientists have managed to turn lead into gold but, even with the Large Hadron Collider, they only produced 29 picograms. There's a way of adding three extra screens to your laptop. Audible are to use AI to narrate audiobooks. Fusion scientists think they can cut the time taken to get to Mars by two-thirds. A dead man testified at the trial of his murderer in Arizona. And a duck has been caught speeding by a radar trap in Switzerland, for the second time in seven years.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Finlay Mathers and Neil Shah of Edison Capital discuss two tech funds heavily involved in AI. Polar Capital's successful Technology Fund has recently shifted massively into the field, with an 80-90% exposure to AI. Focussing on the middle section of the company life cycle, its managers say that AI is on an exponential curve, much like the development of early skyscrapers. Molten Ventures is a publicly-quoted VC fund concentrating on early stage AI, with exposure to R&D and startups. It has plenty of cash ready for seizing interesting opportunities. Both managers consider AI not to be a trend, but a fundamental shift in technology.
Guests: Finlay Mathers
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