Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Andrew Keen of Edison Group discusses energy transition. With the oil and gas companies in long-term structural decline, wind and solar will be the big growth areas while the materials needed are a fascinating area with not enough investment focus. He discusses the trends and some of the problems. However, he points out that it is a complex field and British investors are fortunate that investment trusts can offer a sensible route in, with the fund managers doing the hard work on research.
Guests: Andrew Keen
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the ramifications of Dame Alison Rose resigning as head of Natwest. Did she have to go and should the government have intervened? What are the ramifications of banks debanking customers whose views they don't like? Mike looks at the three by-election results, which show rather more than simply an all-score draw for the three main parties. He also reflects on Labour dropping its pledge on trans self-ID and considers briefly the effect that social media is having on effective politics.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin on the latest tech news. There's Twitter rebranding, scientists working out how to reverse ageing and ward off dementia and Parkinson's, the Australian military investing in computer-capable brain cells, injured knee tendons being replaced with those from kangaroos, DNA storing data with a biological camera, a relatively inexpensive robot dog that lacks cuddliness and a crowd-funded e-scooter with a more comfortable riding position.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University thinks the PM and other politicians should avoid playing the central planner and let the increasingly dynamic education market decide which degrees are worthwhile. He feels it obvious that Britain must adopt Small Modular Reactors but wonders if politicians have the guts in the face of vocal opposition. And he is gravely concerned about the threat to free speech if banks are allowed to cancel the accounts of those whose views they disagree with.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson eulogises Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, which has not only sent the UK box office up 58% WOW (and 80% YOY), but has single-handedly rescued the reputation of the blockbuster. Exciting, funny and with excellent acting throughout, the #1 film is the highlight of a dreadful summer and an action movie even those who usually spurn them might enjoy. Not so the documentary Name Me Lawand at #35, which James felt was poorly made. He was no more enthusiastic about horror thriller Run Rabbit Run on Netflix.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin marvels at the $190,000 paid for an original, unopened iphone, at AI helping conquer the world record for juggling and defeating cold callers, at a laser device to rid Western Australia of feral cats, at a music system to keep cows grazing in the right place, at a system to reduce methane in cow dung – that appears utterly impractical, at a new way of charging electric cars that might mean they can enter the 24hr Le Mans race, at a crowd-funded portable hammock, at a device to counter car theft and at the possibility that humans could soon grow new teeth, much like sharks.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Danni Hewson of A J Bell talks to Simon Rose about the market reaction to this week's fall in inflation, explaining why investors have seemed so euphoric. She discusses the sectors that have been hardest hit – and now are benefitting most – from inflation turning downwards, such as housebuilders, consumer-facing stocks and companies in the hospitality sector.
Guests: Danni Hewson
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Neil Shah of Edison Group discusses the Chancellor's Mansion House speech, particularly the attempt to encourage pension funds and insurance companies to invest in the UK. He gives a shocking example of BT's £37bn pension fund, investing just £100m in UK equities. Neil feels that regulation is forcing too much to go into fixed income and that encouraging but not mandating UK equity investment (including unlisted securities) could make a difference over time.
Guests: Neil Shah
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
With Empire in administration, closing half their cinemas, James Cameron-Wilson finds it hard to be positive. Pixar's Elemental at #1 is a forced morality tale while Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is creaky and overlong. Insidious: The Red Door at #5 is merely blah while Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken at #8 is devoid of wit or flair. James is only enthusiastic about The Flash at #10.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Share's tech editor, Steve Caplin, discusses Wimbledon's AI commentary, Meta's Twitter rival Threads, the Pope's Ferrari, the UK's first legal hands-free car, an eBike with built in ChatGPT, VR glasses for reading, underwater reading glasses for SCUBA divers, a robot surgeon with four hands and a robot dog which has a built-in flamethrower.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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