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Many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been unprecedented – including the extent to which it has forced the UK population to engage with statistics. This has been a challenge for Government, and it has not always gone well. However, with 190 policies enacted in the first six months of the pandemic - costing around £210 bn - it was never going to be easy. We talk to Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser and board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), on lessons that can be learnt from the last 9 months. This matters enormously, as a recent global survey identifies a clear relationship between individuals’ trust in information from government and the likelihood of engaging with vaccination programmes.

Steve Caplin discusses the Yardroid, a robotic gardener that can even help guard your property, though he warns that cheap smart doorbells, designed to do just that, can easily give others easy access to your home wifi network. There are more flights to nowhere, this time for Buddhist monks and Taiwanese speed daters. There's a tech game table loaded with board games and Parisian e-bike ambulances. As for the animal kingdom, there's not only talk of pain relief drugs being derived from tarantula venom, but also how camel fur might be used to develop new cooling material.

Adam Cox is joined by Stephanie Williams, tech expert from Belkin. They discuss the impact the pandemic has had on our tech habits, and how perceptions have changed around the importance it has in our daily lives. Stephanie also shares her tips on how you can optimise your tech usage.

Adam Cox is joined by Christine Gouldthorp, consumer product expert from independent comparison site: PriceRunner. They discuss whether or not Brits trust the offers they see on Black Friday, and whether the offers out there are really as good as they seem. They explore what consumers should be looking out for when shopping during Black Friday events, and why comparing prices is so important to ensure you really are getting a good deal.

Adam Cox talks to Terry Elston, the founder of NLP training company: NLP Life. Terry introduces what NLP is, and why it's so powerful. They discuss the core presuppositions of NLP and why they are useful beliefs to deal with the world. Terry explains how NLP can give people more flexibility and tools to change thoughts and emotions to take more control of life in volatile and uncertain times.

Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's show, with the help of Motley Fool Wealth Management financial planner Ross Anderson, the team will answer your questions about tax loss harvesting, life insurance, bond funds, and so much more.

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show: Walmart delivers big online sales; Target and Williams-Sonoma hit all-time highs; Home Depot and Lowe’s fall on earnings; Amazon gets into the pharmacy business; And Radio Shack returns! Motley Fool analysts Andy Cross and Jason Moser discuss those stories and weigh in on the latest from Intuit, Workday, Goldman Sachs, and Zaxby’s. Plus, Andy and Jason share two investment ideas on their radar: Cerence and Roblox. And Loup Ventures managing partners Gene Munster and Doug Clinton take stock in the future of video games and talk Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

This month we launched The WealthiHer 2020 report “The Changing Faces of Women’s Wealth” which gives valuable insights into women’s and men’s financial confidence, attitudes to and needs around money, workplaces and equality, both in the UK and Asia. It is clear Covid-19 has had a major impact and nowhere was this truer, than for women and their responsibilities to family, job security and financial prosperity. Women are 1.8 times more likely to have lost their jobs or quit, compared to men. The Institute of Fiscal Studies found that women in the UK are working 156 more hours a month than their partners in support of care of the family or the household; and the gender pay gap has shifted back 60 years as a result of the crisis. In this episode, Tamara Gillan is joined by Michelle King: world-renowned equality expert who has led the charge on strategy for UN Women and Netflix Inclusion. Michelle is armed with more than 16 years’ research and a deep understanding of the invisible barriers that hold women back at work, and how we need to face up to these and collaboratively fix workplaces, not women. Michelle has also just joined us as the MD of WealthiHer female leadership Academy.

For better or worse the internal combustion engined car has shaped economies and the way we live over the past century. Now Britain has been told that new petrol and diesel engine cars will not be allowed to be sold in just nine years’ time. But the car itself isn’t going anywhere – just the way it is propelled and hybrids will still be allowed – so how much difference will the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars make? Is the rise of the electric car inevitable anyway and even with Brexit is it more important what Germany, France and the rest of Europe choose to do, than what the UK decides? On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert talk electric cars: from what the shift to them means, to what they are like to drive, charge and live with. Simon explains his experiences of charging electric cars without a home wallbox and why he thinks the Government needs to buck its ideas up on public charging and stop making policy only for those with a drive. He also talks through what three popular electric cars, the Renault Zoe, Peugeot 208 and Tesla Model 3 are like to drive and why the Porsche Cayenne with a conscience shows the way forward for those who feel they need a big, fast, luxury SUV. Also on this week’s podcast, the team discuss yet more pain for savers and the chaos at major port Felixstowe and why it matters to businesses and consumers. And finally, Bitcoin’s back… but as it climbs towards its previous peak, is it different this time?

Joe Healey of The Share Centre looks at the recent state of the stock market, both in the UK and the US, where retail investors have been seen again in strength. With markets having to digest the latest news on vaccines and the return of the tier system as well as Rishi Sunak's Spending Review, Joe discussions the rotation into value stocks. Discussing why investors need to consider if the pandemic's effects are just a blip or permanent for individual sectors, he highlights why financials might be worth looking at again.