Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson urges us to see #7 The Christophers, Steven Soderbergh's virtual two-hander with Ian McKellan and Michaela Coel. About the children of a famous painter trying to get a forger to finish some of their father's canvasses, it benefits from superb acting and a magnificently witty script. Although a theatrical experience, it is a thing of beguiling beauty and is very funny. At #64 is Life Hack, another movie in which computer screens are depicted on the big screen. But this tale of an attempted heist by hackers set in the world of bitcoin carves out its own genre and deserves to be caught in cinemas. James continues his exploration of East German DEFA films with the 1966 banned movie Trace of Stones. Depicting life in the GDR in the 1960s, it seems uncontroversial now, though hardly flattering, and its home video premiere is accompanied by three documentaries.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that Labour, in office for less than two years, is at war with itself, with the party deeply divided into several factions. Labour is entering very choppy waters and may not be able to retain a level of trust with each other to keep the party together. It wouldn't be surprising if the public compared them with the Tories and think "same difference". Where are the big political beasts of yore? The unintended consequences of fully professionalised policians is that they are hugely ambitious, don't have the breadth and depth of experience of yesterday and feel separate from the ordinary public. The Greens and Reform are rediscovering the amateur tradition. Tim also discusses the battle between those who believe in the Laffer Curve and a smaller state and those who cleave to Wagner's Law, explaining why the state keeps growing.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Finlay Mathers of Edison Group explains why MP Evans and AEP fell so heavily this week. Both produce crude palm oil, which estimates say are in roughly ⅓ of the things on supermarket shelves, even shampoo. The Indonesian President is to centralise product exports through a state-run company which investors fear will produce bottlenecks and distort prices. Both companies, however, say they sell to local refineries and do not export directly. After Easyjet reported, Neil Shah says investors might consider thinking about how the company will be perceived after the Iran crisis. Their planes alone are worth about £8 a share and, in normal times, they trade cheaply with an attractive yield. If you believe the status quo will return, they could be interesting from a valuation perspective.
Guests: Finlay Mathers,Neil Shah
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin discusses the limited-edition Piguet swatch which has caused near riots in several countries. Hauwei are to make smart headlights that can project movies & games, and other things not quite so useful. Guide dogs will be able to control your house with the Dogosophy Button. Colossal Biosciences have hatched chickens from 3D-printed eggs, on their way to bringing back the Moa bird. AI agents are becoming Marxists. If you're nostalgic for classic arcade games, you can get one for your home. New Spitfires could be built at a quarter of the cost, using a wartime alternative to aluminium. Robot wolves are seeing off lethal bear attacks in Japan. And biological ageing can be slowed by artistic endeavours as effectively as by exercising.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson finds #3 The Sheep Detectives a bit of a curate's egg. An anthropomorphic fantasy, families will take the astonishingly animated sheep to their hearts in a plot worth of Agatha Christie but the acting is annoyingly hammy. Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard & Soft is a concert film directed by James Cameron. Often hard to hear the lyrics, it is perhaps one for her fans. Out on Blu-Ray is Lynne Ramsay's Die My Love. Robert Pattinson is sidelined by Jennifer Lawrence's impressive performance as a depressive mother becoming increasingly irrational. An important film which juggles realism with the nightmarish, it is almost a character-based horror film.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Russ Mould of A J Bell says that the UK 10-year gilt, yielding over 5%, is the highest since 2008. Although that was normal in the Blair years, things are different after 15 years of financial repression with inflation consistently above target and debt levels everywhere far higher. If Starmer and Reeves are replaced, we'd have the 7th PM and 9th Chancellor in 10 years. In the G20 only emerging markets have to pay more to borrow than the UK, while our interest bill is more than we spend on defence. Investors can get a theoretically risk-free and tax-free 5% nominal yield with gilts. It's a potential alternative to equities but inflation is the enemy: while the UK market yields 3.6%, with buybacks, bids and so on factored in, it's more like 6.3%.
Guests: Russ Mould
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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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