Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian looks at the outlook for the Prime Minister in the wake of the vote of no confidence. He wonders when political gravity will take hold, thinking that the conference season could be critical. He considers who might replace Boris Johnson at the head of the Conservative Party and remarks upon the extraordinary connection between the vote and a bus stop in Parliament Square.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a bounce in UK box office caused by Top Gun:Maverick arriving at #1 a mere 36 years after the original. He found it spectacular and exciting. He also enjoyed the movie spinoff of Bob's Burgers once he became attuned to it, not knowing the TV show. He also recommends the Danish Netflix film Toscana about a chef going to Italy to sort out his late father's affairs.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin, Share's tech expert, discusses with Simon Rose a new electric car powered by the sun. There's an electric DeLorean, a tracked VW camper van, an e-bike that could climb Mount Everest – if there was a road, objections to a car park pizza vending machine, parents using Alexa to help with homework, litter-picking in space, robot snakes and crabs and why people using mobile payments are more likely to overspend.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Russ Mould of A J Bell discusses those central bankers, past and present, admitting their mistakes on inflation and demonstrating that they're as fallible as any of us. He points out that with markets rising for years, investors were lulled into a false sense of security. He thinks investors should now be concentrating on valuation of shares. With the bid for Countrywide, he thinks it could be worth looking at builders and perhaps also at banks, both sectors currently out of favour.
Guests: Russ Mould
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University reflects upon the Second Elizabethan Age and the changes in Britain over the Queen's reign, believing we are now one of the most creative and diverse of nations. He is horrified by an article showing how the most needy in society, who will always need support, are being failed by the stringency of the system which is supposed to help them. And he is staggered by statistics showing just how near the NHS GP service is to a tipping point which could spell its collapse.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
Victoria Scholar of Interactive Investor discusses with Simon Rose Chancellor Rishi Sunak's measures to alleviate the effects of inflation on the more vulnerable members of the public. She comments on the U-turn over the oil producers' windfall tax; an Interactive Investor poll found people were concerned, not just about their own investments, but what it might mean for their pensions. The markets, however, appear to have priced the tax in in advance.
Guests: Victoria Scholar
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office chart, falling substantially for the second week in a row ahead of the release of the new Top Gun movie. James caught up with #2 Everything Everywhere All At Once which he found relentless, with an insufferable tone, but didn't see Benedictine, in at #10. On Netflix he enjoyed youth drama Along For The Ride, with excellent performances and dialogue. He was less impressed by Amazon's thriller The Contractor with Chris Pine, which he found utterly unsurprising.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology editor, tells Simon Rose of the Texas scientists who have worked out how to combine cellulose and konjac to make water from thin air while, in New South Wales, they've found a way to get solar panels to generate power at night! There's also a $2m jigsaw, though the puzzle itself is a QR code, Rolls Royce have a new $28m car while the Genesis GV60 comes with facial recognition, a fingerprint engine start and a crystal ball. After 45 years, Voyager 1 is 14.5 billion miles away but still transmitting, though nobody can understand it.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Political commentator Mike Indian discusses the Sue Gray Report into Pandemic parties in Downing Street and how it reflects upon the culture there. Although he thinks that the PM might yet survive, he feels he's a two-dimensional figure in a world where 3,4 or even 5 dimensions are needed and wishes he was a student of history any later than Pericles. He also gives snap judgement on Rishi Sunak's measures to cope with the rising cost of living, the recording being made while the Chancellor was speaking.
Guests: Mike Indian
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University agrees with Andrew Neil that, around the world, democracy is on the march again. Putin's Ukraine invasion is actually helping to bring the rest of the world together and reconsider the attractions of autocratic rule. Tim wonders if the Bank of England is plagued by groupthink and, as a result, has boxed itself into a corner and could be about to crash the economy. And he ends by asking why modern culture is so dull in the UK and wonders whether the 1990s were the last golden cultural age.
Guests: Professor Tim Evans
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