Share Sounds. presented by Simon Rose

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University found the King's Speech fascinating. He feels that if Labour can deliver 1.5m homes, reform the NHS and grow the UK economy, then it will cement its healthy electoral position. He wonders if the Conservatives can find the unity and clarity of strategy to survive, feeling that the party does not understand the hatred many of its former voters have for them. If Reform can capitalise on this, the Conservative Party may be in a much more precarious position than they realise.

Political commentator Mike Indian is surprised that so little attention has been paid to one of the more radical things in the King's Speech, the boosting of employment rights. He discusses the rebellion of 7 Labour MPs over the child benefit cap. While insignificant now with such a large majority, he feels that things could get trickier with such a broadly-based range of MPs from the second year onwards. He explains how much the American electoral landscape has changed with the exit of Joe Biden from the Presidential race. Harris, he feels, could be a serious contender against Donald Trump but that her choice of Vice President will be key.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that Keir Starmer feels more like a Prime Minister than Rishi Sunak. The big themes emerging from the new government are wealth creation and growth, reducing debt and building homes. Labour's competence could pose problems for the Conservatives. Tim runs through the candidates for the Leadership, with Badenoch and Jenrick the frontrunners. But the new leader may need to purge its left wing, as Labour has, if it is to see off Reform. Reform, for its part, has huge opportunities and challenges and must modernise and professionalise if it is to become a proper, grown-up party.

James Cameron-Wilson reports on a healthy UK box office despite the hot weather. New #1 is Deadpool & Wolverine, the first Marvel film James has enjoyed in a long time. Its 15 certificate is well-deserved as it has lots of blood, beheadings and bad language and there's too much CGI combat but Ryan Reynolds' meta-banter is undeniably funny and the film is full of "Easter Eggs" for fans. The 1959 Sylvia Syms and Herbert Lom British drama No Trees in the Street is available on 4K restoration disc. Shot like an American film noir it's a poverty row drama which is a fascinating time capsule and makes you appreciate the conveniences and luxuries of modern life. Guy Ritchie's films keep going straight to streaming in the UK, including the supposedly true-life war film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. It's very Guy Ritchie, bloody with lots of OTT violence but is nonetheless a guilty pleasure.

While box office is down 12%, James Cameron-Wilson is excited by Twisters, taking £3.1m at #2, thinking the disaster movie is ripe for revival. A standalone sequel, he found this big slice of popcorn escapism with Daisy Edgar-Jones intense and totally engrossing. He wished he'd been able to see Kevin Costner's gargantuan Western project Horizon: An American Saga Part One on the big screen but had to settle for its streaming appearance. Although flawed and sometimes hard to understand, he still found it brilliant and visually amazing. He wanted to like Russell Crowe as a detective with memory loss in Sleeping Dogs on Amazon Prime but, despite the presence of Karen Gillan, it's a B-movie which is formulaic and implausible.

Following the Bank of England's interest rate cut Russ Mould of A J Bell discusses the positives and negatives of lower rates. He also talks about the strong flow of share buybacks in the UK, with almost £50bn announced so far this year. He explains why they aren't always a good idea and should be viewed on a case-by-case basis. Although private investors don't benefit directly, their equity stake in the company grows. With a total cash yield on the FTSE100 of 6.3% (even more with FTSE250), he feels the UK market is looking ever more attractive.

Russell Pointon of Edison Group summarises the company's quarterly consumer report, which finds signs of better momentum in profit reports and, despite a tough macro background, sees consumer confidence increasing. Among companies that are lowly valued relative to their peers, Russell highlights Card Factory. Under relatively new management, it is extending its range beyond greetings cards into gifts and party goods and also moving into suitable overseas markets. Despite good growth prospects, its multiple is still in the high single digits and it has returned to paying dividends.

Daniel Casali, chief investment strategist at Evelyn Partners, looks at the outlook for global stocks, where it's been the AI theme that has driven markets, led by the six mega caps. But, unlike the dotcom bubble, there are real earnings here as these companies are generating big profits so the high ratings can be justified. We now need to see how AI will be utilised by businesses. He also explains why sterling could be heading for a revival under Labour, helped by an improved relationship with the EU which, with the Ukraine situation, needs UK military intelligence and equipment. If the pound improves for the right reasons, it could drive up the currently low valuation of the UK stock market.

Steve Caplin's love for Perplexity deepens. OpenAI's rival to Google is almost ready but ChatGPT apparently makes up URLs. BA's hilarious new safety video has been watched on YouTube half a milion times. Fruit – but not veg – reduces age-related depression. There's a new supermarket delivery robot, while a Japanese supermarket uses AI to standardise smiles and Simon warns about Sainsbury's illusory online offers. There are a couple of devices to help stop snoring, but one uses AI and the other electrocutes your tongue! And the Royal Mail app can now detect counterfeit stamps.

Tech buff Steve Caplin explains the global IT outage caused by a Crowdstrike software update and Microsoft's extraordinary advice. There's an Italian litter-picking robot dog. Small aerial drones can learn to navigate by studying ants. Other drones can mimic geckos to cling to things. Spray-on trainers for athletes are now a reality, while athletes can also run faster if shielded from wind resistance. There's a crowd-funded Dymo-type printer. And Disney are retiring an animatronic attraction – for fear it will offend alcoholics.