Share Sounds. presented by Simon Rose

Neil Shah of Edison group looks at a couple of companies which will benefit from the cycle turning in response to declining interest rates. Both are related to the housing market. Estate agents Foxtons have reasonably-new management team and their interim results show encouraging progress and seem reasonably valued. So too is Topps Tiles, which Neil has discussed on Share Radio before. They are expanding their commercial and online business and doing all the right things. There are notes on both companies on the Edison website: https://www.edisongroup.com.

With box office buoyant, James Cameron-Wilson was blown away by Alien:Romulus, the 9th in the series and the new #1. It feels fresh and smart, has a great retro look and, above all, is how horror films should work. He was glad to have caught #22 Hollywoodgate, a documentary made with the Taliban's cooperation after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving behind £7bn of military equipment. He found it eye-opening, fascinating and frightening. He (and Simon) were full of praise for the 2-disc set of Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years. Beautifully restored, these comedies from 100 years ago and more are still fresh and funny and the superb extras only add to the enjoyment.

The man who knows tech stuff, Steve Caplin, discusses a household robot with a terrifying featureless face and the first autonomous dentist, apparently much faster than the real thing. There's a mosquito tracker, an AI-powered golf trolley, a necklace to jog your memory and a mobile factory that can make bricks from rubble, which is being sent to Ukraine. To solve the problem of moths in museums and stately homes, Rentokil suggests parasitc wasps while a pill could stop cows producing methane-laden burps. And do men drive more riskily if the voice on their satnav is female?

James Cameron-Wilson is joined by guest interrogator Chad Kennerk to discuss the UK box-office, which has dipped 3% from the previous weekend. Sadly, he was not a fan of any of the three new releases in the marketplace: he found 'It Ends With Us' implausible and ridiculous, M. Night Shyamalan’s psycho-thriller 'Trap' contrived and inexplicable and the video game adaptation 'Borderlands' (with Cate Blanchett, of all people) derivative and chaotic.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University explains why the UK's world-class universities sector is in crisis and that it ought to be no surprise to economists, given that it has effectively a politically-imposed price control system. There are solutions, though, if the will is there. In China there is a huge glut in industrial production, with 30% of industrial firms operating at a loss. China's GDP could be at least 40% smaller than we're being told. And, he says, it is now clear that EV demand is not behaving as the politicians would wish, with some companies now developing new types of petrol engines.

Andrew Keen, head of resources at Edison Group, discusses the global diversified miners. Although known for volatility and economic exposure, they are, he says, effectively commodity portfolio managers, a proxy for commodity baskets. While it is difficult for most private clients to research individual commodities and mining stocks, it is not hard to understand the large companies. However, when considering the majors, he suggests that investors should do their own ESG assessment.

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates box office up 82%, helped by Deadpool & Wolverine at #1 for a 2nd week. He enjoyed the sweet-natured, amusing family film Harold & The Purple Crayon at #5 which is full of joi de vivre, innocence and wonder. He also loves Thelma at #20. June Squibb's first starring role at the age of 94, it's an action thriller like you've never before which is also extemely funny. On Apple+ he mostly enjoyed The Instigators with Matt Damon reunited with director Doug Liman in an anti-heist movie.

Tim Price of Price Value Partners offers a guide to investing in uncertain times and why it is important not to judge your performance against others but in absolute terms. He explains why his fund avoids bonds but instead invests in: trend-following funds (all TFF funds made money in the dreadful markets of 2008); profitable, debt-free value stocks following the strategies of Benjamin Graham; and tangible, real, non-financial assets. He discusses the under-reporting of inflation and the problems caused by the US national debt of $35 trillion, increasing by $1 trillion every 100 days, pointing out that the UK situation is comparable. Tim's weekly commentary is available at https://www.pricevaluepartners.com/

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.