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Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University gives his reflections on the West's withdrawal from Afghanistan, contrasting it to the previous Soviet withdrawal and pointing out how the Taliban has changed over two decades. He looks at the "ground truth" behind food shortages and gaps on the shelves, asking what can be done to ameliorate the situation. And he highlights an article that might set the cat among the pigeons, claiming that the pandemic-induced slump is in fact part of a 20-year financial crisis.

Political commentator Mike Indian asks, in the wake of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, whether the USA's role as world policeman is over? He points out how very dangerous American isolationism is likely to be. Although recognising that Parliament's holding the American President in contempt will have little real effect, he believes that the Commons debate on the issue showed the House of Commons at its best, with some very powerful speeches and some very abashed ministers. He also looks at the state of the Labour Party ahead of its forthcoming party conference.

James Cameron-Wilson tries to make sense of a box office that has risen even though all the existing big movies have seen their takes collapse. Riding high at #1 is Disney's Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds, a film packing cinemagoers in despite little advance buzz. James found it smart and original but was less impressed by the spy thriller The Courier with Benedict Cumberbatch which debuted at #8. On DVD, as well as seeing his earlier recommendation Antebellum again, he also proposes watching 1959's Tiger Bay, the first film to star Hayley Mills.

Russ Mould, Investment Director of A J Bell, looks at the bid for Morrison's, explaining why it is attractive and pointing out how cheap the lacklustre UK market now looks for overseas investors. Although the FTSE 100 Share Index has been mostly immune, that's not the case with the 250. Is the UK now open for foreign takeovers and why are a growing number of companies shying away from listing on the stock market altogether?

Share Radio's technology editor mourns the loss of Peter Corby, inventor not just of the eponymous trouser press but rather more. He looks at Amazon's decision to open physical department stores, Elon Musk's announcement of the Tesla Bot, a crowdfunded "smart" ukulele, why the world's fastest rollercoaster is breaking bones and the British battery researchers who are hoping to make solid-state batteries for cars. He also laments the real-world problems trying to use an electric hire car in France.

In this week's tech show, Steve Caplin discusses the Swiss researchers who've calculated Pi to 82.8 trilllion digits; but how will the Guinness Book of Records check it? He also brings news of the first ever wooden satellite, the battery-laden caravan that won't slow your Tesla, Tesla's problems with flashing emergency lights, dissolvable smart watches, getting bacteria to find precious metals in the Brussels sewers, how to train self-driving cars for British, rather than Californian, weather, three-quarter size Ferrari Testarossas for children and more tongue-in-cheek Amazon reviews.

This episode uses the childhood experience of watching Star Trek and the Enterprise crew in order to resolve the challenge of gaining weight as a coping strategy: where it's used as a defence mechanism to deal with issues such as childhood trauma.

Back to vault! In this episode, then-CFO of The Motley Fool (now Managing Director of Motley Fool Ventures), Ollen Douglass, joined us to share his advice for how to negotiate your bills (and more!). Alison was mean to a vegan for no good reason while Dayana Yochim shared etiquette for splitting the dinner tab.

Will Amazon’s department stores be a hit with shoppers? Who is the next CEO to announce retirement? What’s the next big trend in alcohol sales? Maria Gallagher and Jason Moser tackle those questions, as well as the latest earnings from Walmart, Target, Lowe’s Home Depot, Foot Locker, Nvidia, Farfetch, and Robinhood. Plus, they discuss Chipotle’s newest menu item, share 11 stock ideas for the return of weddings and two stocks on their radar: Roblox and Elastic.

As Britain's streets are filled with drivers whizzing deliveries around, there's a new top scam in town. Parcel and package delivery scams are the most common type of 'smishing' text messages, a report said this week. Fraudsters are sneaking into people's text messages, pretending to be couriers that missed you while you were out, or need to arrange or rearrange a delivery. Click the link and you could end up being scammed. This is being enabled by the wave of online deliveries in the pandemic, as online shopping stepped up a number of gears, and the somewhat chaotic way some drivers are delivering those parcels: who doesn't recognise the 'leave it on the doorstep and run away tactic'? Lee Boyce, Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert look at what uou can do to avoid falling victim, what are the risks if you do, and can we do anything about the rise in fraud? Also, its squeaky bum time for the triple lock. Wages are officially up 8.8% and the reference month for pension increases is rapidly approaching, so what will Chancellor Rishi Sunak do? Will a bumper increase for the state pension arrive, or the breaking of a manifesto pledge? Plus, the 'blink and you'll miss it' mortgages, as top rates hang around for a very limited time - and the chip shortage that means people are struggling to buy new cars and sending the price of used ones soaring. And finally, is the current account battle back on? As Nationwide bungs people £100 to sign up, the team take a look.