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The scale of the nominal national debt is staggering, but when you add in unfunded pension schemes (state and public sector) and HM Treasury indemnities to the Bank of England it places a heavy load indeed on the new Chancellor. Her early career at the Bank of England and HBOS will have prepared Rachel Reeves well to tackle this challenge in her new role as Chancellor of the Exchequer; and she will be well aware of the heavy burden being placed on younger generations. Background music: 'Burden Laid Down' by The Westerlies

Most of us believe in personal freedom within a fairer society, but that combination isn't currently on offer from any of the political parties seeking your vote. It is, however possible — but you need to start young. Reducing the voting age to 16 might help a bit, but a more egalitarian way forward for capitalism calls for starter capital accounts and incentivised learning for disadvantaged young people. Then, you need to do something about wealth concentration brought about by the tech giants. Background music: 'Freedom' by Dan Lebowitz

Sport is not only a good way to celebrate national identity but also a great way to celebrate human convergence; football is one of the best in this respect, where we see teams comprised of so many different ethnicities representing so many different countries. Just as regional identity is something to celebrate within countries, so also is national identity something to celebrate in a global context. But this doesn't mean turning countries into fortresses, and the United Nations needs to play a more prominent role in converging governance. Background music: 'India Fuse' by French Fuse

Adam Cox is joined by Stephen Muers, the CEO of Better Society Capital. Following the fallout of the UK general election, the two discuss the recent speech given by Rachel Reeves about new housing. Stephen also tells Adam more about Better Society and what they do. https://bettersocietycapital.com/

Dan Ridsdale, head of technology at Edison Group, looks at the state of play with AI, a structural growth trend, where only the companies on the hardware side stand at a premium. In looking at where the revenue from AI will come, investors need to consider what sort of companies will benefit from its use and which have the best relationships with the AI providers. He also discusses geospatial and spatial technology, an area in which the UK excels. As people are not paying this area of growth enough attention, shares in companies such as 1Spatial are not standing at a premium.

Do you feel financially confident? When it comes to budgeting, saving, investing, and building your pension, are you clueless, comfortable, or cracking on? A piece of research this week by Moneybox claimed that being financially confident could add £67,000 to your lifetime wealth – on average those with confidence were worth £145,000 on average, compared to £78,000 for the unconfident. But what does being financially confident actually mean and how can you get there? Georgie Frost, Tanya Jefferies and Simon Lambert look at how to boost your financial confidence and whether the tips to do so could work. Plus, a week into a new government and with a planned pensions review looming, the team look at what Labour could mean for our retirement savings. Meanwhile, investors seem to be cheering Labour taking charge and this week investment giant BlackRock flagged Britain’s ‘relative political stability’ and cheap stock market, so does that mean good future returns? Investing a large sum was on the mind of a reader who asked This is Money an unusual question: I’m inheriting £10 million, should I set up an investment trust? So, what is the answer to that? And finally, a new report has revealed Britain’s best places for customer service – did your favourite make the list?

Mike Indian analyses the General Election result, astonishing for its massive majority on a tiny vote share and the way it exposed the oddities of the UK election system, particularly with Reform getting more votes than the Lib Dems — but just a fraction of their seats. With Sir Kier Starmer probably only having a brief honeymoon period, Mike hopes they will underpromise and overdeliver. With Starmer at the NATO summit, will Labour deliver the promised defence increase in this dangerous period? He explains why Joe Biden should step aside and looks at the future for the Tories, currently facing electoral irrelevance.

The core of the problem with unclaimed, adult-owned Child Trust Funds (of which there are over £2 billion waiting to be claimed) is with accounts opened by HMRC. That's why The Share Foundation has proposed a 'default withdrawal at 21' process, based on the young person's National Insurance number. Danny Kruger MP took part in the CTF conference in Westminster on Tuesday 5th March, and two weeks later in a Westminster Hall CTF debate, and supported this initiative which could release £1/4 billion each year to help these young and predominantly low-income young adults. Background music: 'Waiting' by Andrew Langdon

Cineworld plans to close 25% of its cinemas and James Cameron-Wilson says box office is down 26%, though ‘Inside Out 2’ is riding high with £40.1m, making it the biggest hit of 2024. Prequel ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ is #2 but, while accomplished and watchable, it doesn't have the coiled tension of the first two films. Despite loving films of Yorgos Lanthimos like ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’, James was not enamoured of ‘Kinds of Kindness’, an anthology movie with Emma Stone which is weird without being wonderful and a case of the emperor's new clothes, with no narrative cohesion. 40 years on, ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’, out on Netflix, creaks in all the wrong places with Eddie Murphy looking the same but with his manic energy diminished. So by the numbers, it's not worth your time.

The market may be overvalued, but some stocks are underpriced. Tim Beyers and Mary Long talk about whether we’re in an AI bubble, lofty tech valuations, and what an unchecked Sam Altman might mean for the rest of us. Then, 17 minutes in, Sanmeet Deo and Ricky Mulvey discuss energy drinks as investments, and whether Monster or Celsius deserves the title of top dog. Companies discussed: CRWD, PANW, MSFT, MNST, CELH. Host - Mary Long; Guests - Tim Beyers, Ricky Mulvey, Sanmeet Deo

Reagan knew how to budget. Jefferson knew how to party. Megan Gorman is the author of the upcoming book, “All the Presidents' Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money.” Gorman is also the founding partner of Chequers Financial Management. Robert Brokamp caught up with Gorman for a conversation about what FDR, a “bit of a trust fund kid,” did if he needed money, how Ronald Reagan’s humble beginnings impacted his finances, and why a Great Depression president was a great investor. Host - Robert Brokamp; Guest - Megan Gorman

Steve Caplin explains how Elon Musk will be destroying the International Space Station. There's a flying car that's a cross between a go-kart and a helicopter, while another helicopter gives tours without a pilot. Renault cars will soon score your driving performance while Bill Gates is investing in a company that will make butter from air. Chinese scientists have grown human brain cells that can control robots. Text to speech can now bring to audio life stars from the past with uncanny reality. There's a new way of trying to prevent rhino poaching by making horns radioactive. And there are some impressive crowdfunded smart binoculars.

If alcohol is a need, a compulsion, then it easily turns into an addiction. That can turn into arguments, embarrassment and inappropriate behaviour. But if it's a choice, it's possible to build a more healthy relationship with alcohol. Adam Cox invites you to explore regression to a point when you were without alcohol, and move towards it being that matter of choice, not necessity.

Adam Cox is joined by Ella Bright, the Head of Branch Network for Newbury Building Society. The two discuss the importance of having access to physical money, especially with the number of bank closures across the UK in recent years. https://www.newbury.co.uk/

The debate on 19th March 2024 was hosted by Sir Jeremy Quin MP to call for the need to simplify family access to Child Trust Funds for disabled young people, and a number of MPs contributed to the debate, including Danny Kruger and Ed Davy. The audio record is provided by Parliament Live, and is an unabridged recording of proceedings, without additional comment. Listeners may notice an adjournment for voting in the House of Commons.

Adam Cox is joined by Gemma Bourne from Big Society Capital to discuss why the government should reallocate a larger proportion of its existing spend to further scale initiatives that tackle the UK's homelessness and temporary accommodation crisis. With new research showing that these house funds are already having a major impact, it could help us combat homelessness. https://bigsocietycapital.com/

The full unabridged UK Budget speech as delivered by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the House of Commons on Wednesday 6th March 2024, without additional comment.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University explains why he so enjoyed new Argentine President Javier Milei lecturing the great and good of the World Economic Forum about libertarian and Austrian economics, attacking corporatism and socialism. He feels Milei could be the most consequential politician economically-speaking for many years. He also looks at falling EV car sales, lamenting the way in which politicians set goals for achieving their hobbyhorses irrespective of scientific progress and consumer demand. And he is fascinated by a meeting between journalist John Humphreys and members of Gen Z, which showed them to be different to the popular perception.

Unabridged and without comment from Share Radio, here's the King's Christmas message as broadcast on 25th December '23.

Neil Shah of Edison Group feels that the bond market has now normalised whch could help the equity market, where many companies have stabilised after a tough year, although he points out that the US market looks peaky. He admires the outstanding quarter year results from Gregg's. The business appears to be in the sweet spot where value is important to customers with a healthy balance sheet and a great management team. It pays a yield but there is still plenty of growth left, although the rating clearly anticipates this.

Steve Caplin takes Simon Rose through a cornucopia of techie Christmas gift ideas. Among his favourites are the crowdfunded Linka Lasso bike lock and the Hover X1 self-flying camera. There's an app to help with the office Secret Santa and a distillery to brew your own booze. You can get a magnetic wrapping tripod, a great phone case with a built-in stand, teflon mats for flaky BBQ food, an underseat suitcase for flights, magnetic bookmarks, a folding charger plug and even an electrified Land Rover Defender to use as a shore tender with your superyacht.

On Wednesday 22nd November '23 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt delivered his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons, focused on restoring UK economic growth. This is his full, unabridged speech as delivered, without commentary.

Welcome to a special episode of The Financial Outlook: the investment section of the Managing My Money course. What's the difference between saving and investment? It's all in the risk. We talk about shares, bonds and funds, and which perform best over the long term. The Managing My Money course has 16 sections in total, and is presented by Glen Goodman and Annie Weston. You can enjoy the whole course, produced in association with the Open University via Share Radio's home page. Here's the link to the slides for this episode: https://www.shareradio.co.uk/help-guides/managing-my-money/supporting-slides/mmm-week-5-episode-10-supporting-slides/

“The [Child Trust Fund] scheme has been closed to new entrants for over 12 years. In this time HMRC has been focusing resources on evaluating and improving existing schemes. We will continue to keep the need to evaluate old schemes under review.” So said Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to HM Treasury in reply to a parliamentary question from John Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. But this is not an 'old scheme' — there is currently over £1.7 billion sitting in mature accounts belonging to over 900,000 mainly low-income young adults throughout the UK who don't know anything about their good fortune! Their Child Trust Fund harvest is seeing too little action at present: but it's not too late to get it sorted, and the current focus from the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee will certainly help.
Background music: 'Hopeful Freedom' by Asher Fulero

UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt sets out his Budget for growth. This is the unabridged recording, direct from the House of Commons on 15th March 2023.

The huge take-up of ChatGPT over recent weeks has brought the challenge of Artificial Intelligence into sharp relief. As the Chief Executive of its creator, OpenAI, said in one of his blogs, 'Artificial Intelligence will bring unimaginable wealth but, unless something changes, most of us will get none of it. We need a radical solution'. Conventional wisdom sees Universal Basic Income as the way through this dilemma, but this will only bring us more state intermediation and human subservience. We can put forward a better solution, by enabling all to share in the wealth that technology brings and to play their part in its future governance.
Background music: 'Digital Solitude' by Silent Partner

Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook, tells Simon Rose what makes investment trusts special and why investors should consider their merits. He explains the differences to other types of funds, including the premium and discount. He discusses the yields on alternative assets (including renewable energy and even music royalties) and how trusts can continue paying dividends even in bad years. The handbook, from Harriman House, is available in hardbook or free as an ebook (https://tinyurl.com/mt69fc24).

It’s the last episode of Answers (but don’t worry, we’re just moving to Motley Fool Money every Tuesday). We’ll reminisce on our biggest lessons learned over the last seven years and answer your questions, some financial, some festive.

The Talk by the WealthiHer Network, every month on Share Radio: this month we are here to talk about the secrets of some of UK leading female businesses leaders and their journeys within launching their businesses. Tamara Gillan is joined by Charlotte Bobroff, the executive director at J.P. Morgan who has been incremental with working with female founders from female high-powered businesses. She recently curated an event surrounding female high-powered businesses and she will be discussing her findings. Also, we have the pleasure of Daina Speddings, who is an investor at BGF and will share her perspective on the investment journey.

Scrooge has made the deal of his life with Chinese investors and must now quickly return to London on Christmas Eve to close the deal. On the flight back, during a fitful sleep, Scrooge confronts his past and present and learns the future consequences of his miserly life to find the true meaning of Christmas. Proscenium Online Theatre is super excited to be bringing you a whole new season of audio dramas in 2022. Starting off with 'The Girl in the Yellow Dress', a dark romance by South African playwright Craig Higginson, and 'Plunder', an original Hong Kong based thriller by American playwright Alan Olejniczak. In the meantime - sit back, close your eyes and enjoy the Proscenium Online Theatre’s production of 'A Christmas Carol'.

https://www.prosceniumonlinetheatre.com

Join the Sustain:Social panel session on December '21, considering the outlook for investors in the wake of the COP26 in Glasgow. The panel comprises of - Chair: Rodney Hobson Panel: Gervais Williams (Premier Miton Group); Jamie Broderick (Impact Investing Institute); Mohan Gundu (Sustainable Funds Group); Mike Appleby (Liontrust Sustainable Investment team); Gavin Oldham (The Share Foundation / Share Radio).

Food banks are providing a vital role to help people this winter, and the Trussell Trust supports more than 1,200 throughout the United Kingdom. In this special episode of The Bigger Picture, their Chief Executive Emma Revie briefs supporters about their progress, and their plans for the future. If you would like to support the extraordinary work undertaken by this charity, please visit https://trusselltrust.org

If you missed Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivering his speech on 27 October, here's your chance to hear it. Plus, read our commentary on Monday 1 November for Share Radio's perspective, including our assessment of the contrast with the mid-70s, when public borrowing last hit stratospheric levels.

Imagine a world in which everyone has a stake in the great tech firms that serve them each day, and where dividends are gradually replacing wages to provide regular income for everyone, as work becomes scarcer as a result of automation? Imagine a world where every young person not only has a small inheritance with which to start their adult life, but also the opportunity to build its value by learning life skills? Simon Rose is taking a well-earned break this week, so we’re taking the opportunity to bring you a talk given Gavin Oldham in August to the leading City of London think-tank Z/Yen.

Click link for slides for presentation

On 31 August '21 The Share Foundation hosted a virtual event for young people in Wales, to help them find money that the government put away in a Child Trust Fund for when they reached 18. All young people born in the UK from 1st September 2002 should have one of these accounts, but huge numbers don't know anything about them! With Welsh-speaking help from Jac, this audio podcast of the virtual event tells you all about your good fortune, and invites you to register at https://findCTF.sharefound.org so that Sharefound can help link you with your money. Please share! And if you want to join a virtual event yourself, please visit https://www.sharefound.org/ctf-virtual-events and register for your choice of date: they're taking place each fortnight.

Every child in the UK born between 1 Sept 2002 and 2 Jan 2011 has a Child Trust Fund (CTF). But one child in six has lost contact with the money. Gavin Oldham, Chairman of The Share Foundation – which runs the Junior ISA & Child Trust Fund schemes for children in care for the Department for Education - is trying to re-connect them. He talks through the CTF, how to track an account down, and what a child can and can’t do with the money.

In a new partnership with publishers Harriman House, Share Radio has produced its first audiobook 'Superinvestors', written by Matthew Partridge and read by some of Share Radio's best known presenters. 'Superinvestors' lays bare the investing secrets of legendary investors - from early 20th-century figures such as Benjamin Graham and John Maynard Keynes, through to more modern names such as Anthony Bolton and Warren Buffett.

How you can help young people in care prepare for adult life by supporting The Share Foundation’s ‘Stepladder of Achievement’ programme.

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Share Radio has put together a list of our ‘Top 5 Money Saving Apps’ to help our listeners make the most of their money.  All the apps featured here are free to download on either Apple or Android devices. Read more...