Share Sounds presented by Gavin Oldham

Entrepreneurial activity is the throbbing heart of business and economic growth, but Evelyn Partners have discovered that 40% of business owners are planning to exit within the next year faced by the spectre of a massive rise in Capital Gains Tax if Labour wins next year's General Election. It's therefore critically important that the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves builds a full understanding of the dynamics of entrepreneurial endeavour and the deep level of commitment and risk shouldered by those seeking to build long-term businesses. Background music: 'The Plan's Working' by Cooper Cannell

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Children's Minister Nadhim Zahawi MP set out a strong case for abolishing inheritance tax in last Wednesday's Telegraph. It certainly needs its purpose defined and structural reform — however young people from disadvantaged backgrounds really need starter capital accounts and life skills to break the cycle of deprivation that ties them down, and hypothecation of inheritance tax receipts would transform inter-generational rebalancing. Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins

Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to HM Treasury, wants to see a greater appetite for risk to encourage investment in British business. It's good to hear such a positive approach, but let's make it quoted-equity focused; debt and private equity are not the way forward for long-term success. Background music: 'The Nexus Riddim' by Konrad OldMoney

“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

Young adults with Child Trust Funds are personal investors, but over 40% of them don't know it. On Thursday 18th May the Public Accounts Committee met to find out more: this is the first half of their hearing following the March 2023 publication of a National Audit Office landmark report and its investigation into the Child Trust Fund scheme. Witnesses who took part were, for HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra and Emily Antcliffe, and for The Share Foundation, Gavin Oldham and Anthony Walker. Members of the Public Accounts Committee (all MPs) who attended were Dame Meg Hillier (chair), Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Deputy Chair), Olivia Blake, Flick Drummond, Peter Grant, Jill Mortimer and Nick Smith. The hearing ran for over an hour and a half: this is the first 48 minutes.

Young adults with Child Trust Funds are personal investors, but over 40% of them don't know it. On Thursday 18th May the Public Accounts Committee met to find out more: this is the second half of their hearing following the March 2023 publication of a National Audit Office landmark report and its investigation into the Child Trust Fund scheme. Witnesses who took part were, for HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra and Emily Antcliffe, and for The Share Foundation, Gavin Oldham and Anthony Walker. Members of the Public Accounts Committee (all MPs) who attended were Dame Meg Hillier (chair), Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Deputy Chair), Olivia Blake, Flick Drummond, Peter Grant, Jill Mortimer and Nick Smith. The hearing ran for over an hour and a half: this is the second 48 minutes.

'Stop the boats' calls the UK Prime Minister, but there's no linking of his short-term strategy to the big global issues which are driving migration: conflict, poverty and climate change. That's why the Archbishop of Canterbury called for a new approach in the House of Lords last Wednesday, seeking to tackle the causes rather than just the symptoms, and calling for a long-term perspective to address these challenges. This episode contains his full speech in parliament. Background music: 'Freedom' by Dan Lebowitz

Democracy is a great blessing, but it has a major Achilles Heel — it is not good at coping with all the long-term issues which are growing in number and importance. Trying to address long- and short-term issues together without specific definition will always handicap the former. That's why Princess Anne focused correctly on this challenge in her interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — but monarchy can do little more than draw attention to the problem, which needs constitutional and political resolution. We propose a way forward out of this dilemma, suggesting how the United Kingdom can set a course for the democracies of the world to follow. Background music: 'Saving the World' by Aaron Kenny Image source: BBC Research, based on National Archives Federal Reserve Economic Data

As we progress through the pomp and splendour of the Coronation over the next few days, many will be asking themselves ‘what is the relevance of the monarchy in today's world?’. Will King Charles reign forward, spending the majority of his time travelling the world and building one human family in which discord can become a thing of the past? Or will he just rein back here in the United Kingdom, allowing parochial pressures for contraction to eclipse this wider opportunity? Background Music: 'World's Sunrise' by Jimena Contreras; image by Mark Tantrum - https://gg.govt.nz/image-galleries/official-portraits, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia

Dire warnings about the damage from climate change, plus the war in Ukraine, mean that we need to wean ourselves quickly off fossil fuels. However the investment markets are very slow in re-aligning opportunities in quoted investment markets: personal investors need to be able to invest in massive renewable energy projects such as Xlinks, but private equity and institutions have got in there first. We need a thorough overhaul of the investable energy sector to provide socially acceptable alternatives to fossil fuels. Background music: 'Boundless Energy' by Nate Blaze