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Adam Cox is joined by Kevin Brown, from Scottish Friendly, to discuss new research which reveals parents’ ability to put money away for their children. They look how sensible it is to give children a Junior ISA as part of their Christmas financial gift, and how Junior ISA's can teach children about investing. https://www.scottishfriendly.co.uk/

Adam Cox is joined by tech and consumer expert Evelina Galli, from PriceRunner, to discuss how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting Brit's buying habits this Christmas. They discuss what products the public are buying more and less of this year, and Evelina gives her top tips for finding the best deals when Christmas shopping. https://www.pricerunner.com/

The Christmas/New Year fortnight is infamous for over-eating, and for some people it just doesn't seem right to leave food behind. Adam Cox invites us to visit the control room of our mind, where conscious links can be drawn between our appetite and the amount of physical exertion we undertake. Using this logic, he argues that overeating and excess for no other purpose is ridiculous: so some exercise to balance it out over the next fortnight might be worth considering!

Victoria Scholar of Interactive Investor, despite being in a broken-down car in freezing weather, talked to Simon Rose about the latest interest-rate decisions from the Fed, the Bank of England and the ECB. With growth weakening, all three tilted away from a more hawkish position. In the UK, the pound and banks were lower ahead of the MPC's announcement while housebuilders were stronger because interest rate rises might not be as great as they might have been.

James Cameron-Wilson laments a 4th week of plunging box office, despite several old Christmas favourites reappearing. He recommends the true story of The Silent Twins (#23), finding it audacious, original and beautifully simple. Another pick is the DVD release of the exquisitely-made Emily with Emma Mackey about Emily Bronte, which he found intellectually daring and moving. And he also is keen on Netflix's The Swimmers, a true story about Syrian sisters, Olympic hopefuls, who refused to be deterred by the civil war.

Steve Caplin has a sackful of Christmas gift suggestions that should arrive before the holiday. For the extravagant, there's a 2-storey inflatable catamaran or a pimped iPhone 14 Pro Max. For the rest of us, choose between apps to produce spectacular portraits, a smart door lock, a space-saving Christmas tree, kitchen scales, a yodelling pickle, a rechargeable lantern, a travelling plug set, a folding fan, a belt for sailing through security, a suitcase to beat size restrictions and an app to keep track of all your online shopping.

Political commentator Mike Indian looks at the nurses' strike. When all solutions to the NHS's problems are difficult, he feels emphasis should be on patient outcomes. He looks at the new bullying claims against Dominic Raab, wondering why the relationship between government and the civil service has deteriorated so markedly. And he summarises an extraordinary year which, he says, shows just how the Conservatives have thrown away most of the advantages they held.

Last week's rather under-stated 'Edinburgh Reforms' will pave the way for a major step forward in the UK's contribution to global financial services. In what Mark Austin describes as a 'Darwinian evolution', this broad set of regulatory changes not only frees the City from decades of living under the European Union umbrella of directives, but also continues with measures to ease over-reaction following the 2008 financial crisis. Background Music: 'The New Order' by Aaron Kenny

The mortgage crunch has stalled the pandemic property boom and sent house prices down, but could they fall 20%? The risk of a severe house price downturn of that magnitude was flagged by Rightmove founder and property market veteran Harry Hill. Hill’s CV includes setting up property giant Rightmove and selling estate agency group Countrywide for £1 billion a year before the 2008 banking crisis. Hill told the The Mail on Sunday and This is Money: 'My view on the housing market is that it's going down in every direction. Transactions are going to go down. Prices are going to go down.’ He added that a bad recession would mean ‘we could see 20% price reductions’. Could house prices fall 20% from here? Why would it happen? How bad would that be? Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert discuss the prospects for the housing market, how the rapid rise in mortgage rates is affecting it and what prospective home movers or first-time buyers should do. Plus, they are joined by a very special guest: Lee Boyce, now Money Mail editor, is back on the programme to discuss the Wooden Spoon award for the worst customer service of the year. Who are the runners and riders, what did they do wrong, and why does Simon nominate a couple of firms that aren’t even on the shortlist? Savings rates have been a rare bit of good new recently and Simon talks through the attraction of small building societies and how some are offering market beating rates, but you might struggle to secure them. And finally, it’s time for a second special guest, John Mayhead of classic car specialist Hagerty, who is joins Simon to discuss the insurer’s Bull List of ten classics it tips to rise in value next year. How do these classic cars get on the list, what makes them ripe for appreciation and what’s a Citroen BX doing rubbing shoulders with a Lamborghini Diablo?

You might not expect to find a multi-bagger stock in aftermarket automotive parts. But, that's exactly what one retailer has accomplished. Deidre Woollard and Jim Gillies discuss Europe's energy crunch, and why Russia isn't playing along with price caps, investing in economic cycles as a contrarian, and why AutoZone is "one of the best managed companies and capital allocation stories." Plus, 17 minutes in, Motley Fool Contributor Brian Withers joins Alison Southwick and Robert Brokamp to discuss how to encourage kids to invest when time is on their side. Companies mentioned: AZO, DIS, CMG. Holiday Music: Disco Christmas by Universal Robot; Host - Deidre Woollard; Guests: Jim Gillies, Alison Southwick, Robert Brokamp, Brian Withers