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Markets around the world have slumped, the dollar weakened and fears mount of a global recession, after Donald Trump announced huge 'reciprocal' tariffs on over one hundred countries. The UK appears to have got off lightly, attracting just the baseline 10% tariff - but even that will wipe out the Chancellor's beloved headroom and leaves the door wide open for tax rises in the Autumn. How else could it hit us here? From pensions, investments, mortgages and energy bills, Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Lee Boyce try to unpick a crazy few days in the geo-political arena. As ISA providers continue to battle it out to win new customers ahead of the end of the tax year, we've seen some chunky deals. A quartet of savings apps have all boosted rates repeatedly in the last week, with the top Cash ISA rate of 5.9%, up from 5.28% just a week ago. The catch? These bonus boosts only last three months, so how good is the rate you're really getting over the whole year? And are these deals worth it? And, on the topic of ISAs, Simon has his very, very last minute tips on filling your allowance before it's too late.

Outcome assessment is vital for all new initiatives, particularly political, but traditional academic research, which is sequential in character, is not good at responding to the speed of change in our modern world. This is particularly the case in tackling Child Poverty, for which a UK-Government Task Force is due to report later this Spring. If we are to break the cycle of deprivation with inter-generational rebalancing, we need a new sense of dynamism and responsiveness. Background music: 'Peony Morning' by TrackTribe

Rachel Reeves is back to where she started after the Spring Statement, with her £9.9billion of budget headroom restored but at what cost? The Chancellor was true to her word and didn't turn last week's economic update into a second Budget, with no tax changes coming in. But a wave of spending cuts was announced, along with growth forecasts going both down and up. We also got the Office for Budget Responsibility's update on what Reeves' Autumn Budget tax rises will cost us, a threat to Cash ISAs and no reprieve for home buyers on stamp duty. In this episode, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert dive into the Spring Statement to explain why it happened, what it means, and tackle the question of whether taxes are going to have to rise again in autumn. They look at the very important assumption being made by the OBR, which if it turns out to be wrong could mean there is a £48billion black hole in the sums. And is the entire thing a charade anyway and damaging to our future prospects? Simon explains why he thinks so. Finally, campaigners like Gary Stevenson claim that this could all be solved with a wealth tax — is that where we will eventually end up?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her March '25 Spring Statement — this is an unabridged audio record of her speech to the House of Commons

When Clement Attlee introduced welfare universality to post-war Britain, he was aiming for a more egalitarian society. Seventy-five years on we can see not only that it has not been achieved, but also that it has nearly bankrupted the public finances: a major task for UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves to tackle in her Spring Statement. Targeting support for those most in need with the help of philanthropy will be a key part of replacing 'egalitarian socialism' with egalitarian capitalism, enabling those with a social conscience to concentrate support and encouragement where it's needed, rather than providing publicly-funded services 'free at the point of use' for everyone. Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins Image source: Wikipedia

Rachel Reeves is due to deliver her Spring Statement next week, and it's probably safe to say this isn't the position she wanted to be in. After an Autumn Budget that raised spending and hiked taxes while locking the Chancellor in with a new fiscal rule, Reeves would have hoped to arrive in March with better news on the economy. Instead, Labour's not-a-tax-on-working-people national insurance hike on employers has backfired, at the same time as the growth forecasts have taken a downturn and borrowing costs have risen. So, what will the Chancellor do next week? Will she tweak her own fiscal rule, raise taxes again or cut spending in unprotected areas that are already suffering? As Rachel Reeves finds herself between a rock and a hard place, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert look at what could happen. Plus, what does the Bank of England holding rates and the potential future path mean for your savings and mortgage? What should you do to sort your ISA and pension now? Can you really give away £1 million a year and dodge inheritance tax? And finally, the question that anyone like Simon who racks up the odd foreign traffic infraction needs answered: if you get a holiday parking fine, do you have to pay it?

Investors this week have been hit by the 'Trump Slump.' Why is the US President rattling markets, and is it the end of the US bull market? Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Lee Boyce discuss what you should be doing to make your investments great again. How will the UK handle potential tariffs, should investors be in panic mode and what do experts say you should be doing to navigate the geopolitical turmoil? Pension freedom rules came into play ten years ago — these allowed retirees to take control of their pension savings, shifting away from the obligation to buy an annuity and moving towards flexible drawdown and investment options. So a decade on, how have the class of 2015 fared? Nationwide is handing out more money — £600 million of it — to 12 million eligible members as a 'big thank you' following its acquisition of Virgin Money last year. That’s £50 each. And it’s separate to its Fairer Share Scheme, which will be announced in May. And lastly, what can you do if a neighbour cuts back hedges and trees which have given you privacy for decades?

Adam Cox is joined by Thea Watson from Bright HR. They discuss a new report carried out by Bright HR, all about business confidence. What did it find? Well, it shows how 68% of UK businesses who have embraced a technology strategy see growth as their number one objective for 2025.Shockingly though, over half of all survey respondents — many without a tech plan — say they are not expecting to grow in 2025, and more than a quarter are simply looking to survive. https://www.brighthr.com/

The past year has seen a litany of climate change disasters of which the wildfires in Los Angeles are the latest. Yet Americans still supported Trump's call to 'drill, baby, drill' in the presidential election. This is just the latest disaster that financial markets have to contend with. How much pressure can the insurance and investment markets take? The one thing that we know for sure is that, while the American people may have locked in their choice for the next four years, there's no such insurance for the bond market — it can strike at any time. Background music: 'Trap Unboxing' by Jimmy Fontanez_Doug Maxwell

You have to feel for Rachel Reeves. After establishing a solid reputation in opposition, things haven’t gone to plan as Chancellor so far. Her Autumn Budget led to widespread criticism over tax rises on employment and extra costs for businesses, while questions abound over whether her plans will deliver the growth Labour promised voters. Now, a slow burn rise in the UK’s borrowing costs has led to gilt yields surpassing the levels seen after Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s ill-fated mini-Budget. Unfortunate, for a Labour party that has spend the past couple of years citing a gilt yield spike as evidence while banging on about Liz Truss ‘crashing the economy’ and Tory mortgage penalties. But is Britain’s current predicament Rachel Reeves' and Sir Keir Starmer’s fault, or do they just find themselves caught out by an unfortunate set of circumstances? Or is it a bit of both? Where did things start to go wrong? Was it the Budget, or was it the claimed ‘£22 billion black hole’ and months of miserabilism? And what are gilts and why do yields even matter? In this episode, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert dig into what’s gone wrong with Britain’s finances and what it means for people. Plus, in better news, Lee looks at the jobs that delivered the biggest pay rises last year and why. Simon explains what’s going on with the US hedge fund staging a raid on seven investment trusts — and why investors should make sure they vote. And finally, Lee catches up with Dave Fishwick as the new 'Bank of Dave' film is released.