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Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University suggests that, with the trend in Europe towards nationalist populism and harsher immigration policies, opinions in the UK towards the EU from each political wing may switch, as they have done before. With Thames Water in dire staits, why are natural monopolies failures whether run by the state or privately and what can be done? And with the problems of the NHS deepening, is it about to hit the point of no return?

James Cameron-Wilson comments on the dire state of the UK box office, where Cineworld is filing for administration. With Spider-Man returning to #1, the implausible and predictable No Hard Feelings, with Jennifer Lawrence, enters at #3. Wes Anderson's Asteroid City is #4. Despite liking some of his films and despite a stellar cast, James found this too deliberately quirky and self-indulgent. He was much keener on thriller Extraction II with Chris Hemsworth on Netflix. While lacking in originality, he found the action sequences genuinely thrilling, with one being among the best he's ever seen.

In the wake of the buyout of Lookers, Neil Shah of Edison Group considers whether the fact that the UK listed market is steadily being depleted is a bad thing or not? He feels that takeovers by trade buyers or private equity provide a possible exit for investors when the stock market might be underpricing companies and that, without it, investors – particularly in the small- and mid-cap areas – might not see value realised.

Steve Caplin reports on the world of tech, where the Esports Olympics have just taken place. He discusses supermarket trolleys that could check on your heart, DNA testing for dogs, an inflatable bike helmet, why South Koreans are all suddenly a year younger, why NASA wants to introduce talking AI to space missions (haven't they seen 2001?) and convert astronauts' urine into water, how your phone could soon take your temperature, why an updated Furby is returning to annoy us and explains why he loves a pocket-sized, self-flying camera.

'I'm starving', I'm famished', 'I'm hungry': how often do we throw out these comments without thinking? Are they an expression of want (need to have) or desire (nice to have)? Much of Adam Cox's hypnotic work is in the field of helping to lose weight, so in this episode he speaks of what hunger really means for those impacted by war or famine, seeking to help redefine motives in our affluent societies where the real challenges are rather different.

Adam Cox is joined by Kelly Saudackas, the Pelvic Health Guru, to delve into the issue of incontinence and other bladder and bowel-related problems. Together, they explore the reasons why bladder issues, particularly incontinence, disproportionately affect older women. Kelly sheds light on effective treatment methods and preventative measures that can be employed to address and mitigate the challenges associated with incontinence. https://tenscare.co.uk/

For the past century, cities have centered around work. What happens when that’s no longer the case? Deidre Woollard and Matt Argersinger discuss what downtowns might look like when they become more than just “containers for work”, how different REITs are approaching the new commercial real estate landscape, and the promise and problems of “15-minute cities”. Companies and REITs mentioned: CRM, ARE, WE, PEAK, DEA. Host - Deidre Woollard; Guest - Matt Argersinger

Rivian, Ford, and General Motors are all on-board to make cars that can use Tesla’s charging standard. But this collaboration won’t slow down the competition in electric vehicles any time soon. Asit Sharma and Dylan Lewis discuss why Rivian, Ford, and General Motors are signing on to make cars work with Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), what’s behind Tesla’s 140% jump in shares so far in 2023, Hyuandai’s $28B 10-year commitment to EVs and the Chinese government’s new $72B tax break program (NOTE: In the discussion, we accidentally refer to the combined charging standard as “CSS” instead of “CCS”). The, 12 minutes in, Ricky Mulvey caught up David Johnston, a vice president of asset protection and retail operations for the National Retail Federation to take a look inside retail crime syndicates and what's being done to stop them. Companies discussed: TSLA, F, GM, LOW, TGT, HD, CVS. Host - Dylan Lewis; Guests - Asit Sharma, David Johnston, Ricky Mulvey

The Bank of England’s bumper 0.5% rate hike this week was the 13th rise in a row. After sitting on their hands for more than a decade, ratesetters have been shaken out of their slumbers by an inflation storm. By historic standards 5% is not high for interest rates, but unfortunately for borrowers we also started from a historic low and have gone from 0.1% to here in just 18 months. The belated headlong rush into raising rates is also the exact opposite of what the Bank of England spent years assuring homeowners would happen: the party line used to be ‘gradual and limited’. The Bank is hiking rates to try to crush inflation but at the same time this affects a much smaller slice of homeowners than it once did and rapid rise in mortgage costs is crushing a generation of homeowners. So, was another rate rise a wise move? How bad is the pain for borrowers? Is this not a patch on the '80s, or just as bad? Has the Bank of England even given its rate rises long enough to take effect? On this rate rise special podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert tackle all that and more.

Last Saturday's trail of chaos exposes the challenge facing Russia, absorbed in conflict and with its people living in fear and poverty. Plans are urgently needed to find a way out of this mess. But it has to start with ending the violence in Ukraine. Could there be a role for UN peacekeepers to help while Russia looks for a new way forward? Background music: 'Russian Dance' by Joey Pecoraro