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Political commentator Mike Indian takes Simon Rose through the recent local election results, with huge gains for Labour, the LibDems and Greens and massive losses for the Conseratives. He also discusses the Archbishop of Canterbury's attack in the House of Lords on the Illegal Immigration Bill, the rumblings over Sue Gray becoming Labour's Chief of Staff, with Mike wondering if she will ever take up her role. And he ends with admiration – like many – for the part Penny Mordaunt played in the Coronation. As a result, he reckons she must be the favourite to be the next Tory leader.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University discusses the rise of private armies and militaries such as The Wagner Group and asks what they mean for democratic accountability. Are the new rules on voter ID helping to ensure fair elections or are they a democratic scandal and a way to game democracy? And what's behind Labour's reversal of its plans to abolish tuition fees in England?

With box office down another 12% and Super Mario Bros. still #1, James Cameron-Wilson gives thanks for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry at #3. Adapted by the author, it stars Jim Broadbent as a man who goes to post a letter – and keeps walking, and James found it deeply moving. On Apple+ he watched Chris Evans in action thriller Ghosted, which he found disappointingly overfamiliar. But worse still, on Disney+, was Peter Pan & Wendy, a live-action remake of the original cartoon, which he found wrong in almost every regard. Simon Rose found the French version of The Three Musketeers – D'Artagnan a perfectly enjoyable version of the much-filmed story.

Steve Caplin discusses the latest tech with Simon Rose. Google have a folding phone (pricey) and a new tablet (reasonable), while Uber's app now lets you book flights, with a better refund policy than most airlines and 100 of Amazon's original shows are now available for free. Scientists have worked out how to get water on the moon – with a microwave, to produce music from rocks and to get the best head of beer from a can. AI cameras are to be used to catch litterlouts while a man has made the world's fastest wheelie bin, which is legal to drive on roads.

Steve Caplin delves into the latest tech, with a computer game that's found a way to sneak censored war news into Russia. ChatGPT is apparently more empathetic than real doctors while AI can now provide therapy and even read minds. Before long you'll be able to control your kettle by stroking it, there's a bike helmet with clever indicators and a bike light with built-in radar. Cultivated fish grown in a lab have been developed, with eel next on the list and Uber have a replica Coronation carriage you can ride in.

Ever felt a bit like a pressure cooker, with strain and stress building up gradually inside so that small things begin to have the capacity to tip you over the edge? If you think you might blow a gasket as a result of difficult situations getting on top of you, this episode could be very helpful. It supplies a tool to help relieve that pressure, and provides you with a deeper level of resilience. A common cause of road rage is unrelated build-up of stress — don't let things get on top of you ..

Investing’s biggest weekend is almost here. Ricky Mulvey and Asit Sharma discuss Johnson & Johnson’s spin-off of its consumer health company, Kenvue, if Darden Restaurants is getting a good deal on its acquisition of Ruth’s Hospitality Group, and Yum! Brands quarter, and what it says about the global economy. Then, 13 minutes in, Deidre Woollard and Matt Frankel look ahead to Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, taking place this weekend. Companies discussed: JNJ, KVUE, PG, RUTH, DRI, YUM, BRK.A, BRK.B, RDFN, OXY, CVX, AAPL. Host - Ricky Mulvey; Guests: Asit Sharma, Deidre Woollard, Matt Frankel

If you want to maximize the value of your home for decades, you might update the kitchen. But if your time frame is one week, then you might burn down the house. Brendan Ballou is a federal prosecutor and special counsel at the Department of Justice, where he led the antitrust division’s work on private equity. He's also authored a new book, “Plunder, Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America.” Ricky Mulvey caught up with him to talk about the techniques many private equity companies use to generate short-term returns, a key misunderstanding about the fall of in-person retailers, and Private Equity’s impact on medical billing, bakeries, and insurance. Companies discussed: CG, KKR, BX. Host - Ricky Mulvey; Guest - Brendan Ballou

A row over housebuilding has erupted again. Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he would bring back a 300,000 annual housebuilding target, after Rishi Sunak scrapped it. Meanwhile, some backbench Tory MPs are reportedly unhappy about their party ditching that target in the first place – with the number having featured in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto. At the same time Michael Gove has been cheered in many quarters for blocking a development in Kent, as it was deemed to be poor quality and ugly, but is now being taken to court by developer Berkeley Homes over the decision. So, what can we do about housebuilding and how do we get ourselves out of this mess – especially as the younger generation are squeezed out by high house prices and rents? Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert dig into the myriad problems with UK housebuilding and what can be done to build better homes that people want to buy and have near them. Is the answer just bringing back targets or is it more complicated than that? Is not wanting housing developments Nimbyism if there’s a failure to build well and deliver infrastructure? How can we convince local communities to back new housing? All this and more come up for debate. Also, if you are in the fortunate position of being able to buy a home but are worried about falling house prices and locking into high mortgage rates, what should you do? Sam North, of eToro, joins us for the latest market update, including the reaction to the Fed's latest rate rise. Will a new crackdown on scams finally stop the fraudsters? And finally, we said it was coming. The 5% savings rate is back, but should you get one?

Democracy is a great blessing, but it has a major Achilles Heel — it is not good at coping with all the long-term issues which are growing in number and importance. Trying to address long- and short-term issues together without specific definition will always handicap the former. That's why Princess Anne focused correctly on this challenge in her interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — but monarchy can do little more than draw attention to the problem, which needs constitutional and political resolution. We propose a way forward out of this dilemma, suggesting how the United Kingdom can set a course for the democracies of the world to follow. Background music: 'Saving the World' by Aaron Kenny Image source: BBC Research, based on National Archives Federal Reserve Economic Data