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They finally did it! The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee raised the base rate from its emergency 0.1% level to 0.25%. That came the day after inflation rocketed to 5.1 per cent - and is forecast to keep rising - and in the week that the International Monetary Fund warned the Bank of England against 'inaction bias'. Markets were cheered by the rate rise and economists were broadly welcoming too, yet the general consensus is that it will make little difference to the inflation Britain is suffering. So, why raise interest rates and was this the right move as the nation stares down the barrel of yet more (potentially overcooked) Covid disruption? On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Tanya Jefferies and Simon Lambert delve into the rate rise, ask whether it was the right move but maybe for the wrong reason, and look at why inflation is soaring and when it may abate. The team also discuss how this will affect ordinary people and whether it will add to the cost of living squeeze hitting everywhere from the petrol pump, to your heating and the supermarket aisles. Tanya gives an update on delayed state pension cases and her investigations into this and whether the generation in their late 40s will have to wait longer to retire. And finally, it’s nearly Christmas and frantic present buying is the order of the day, but if you were going to give a financial gift to a child would you give Premium Bonds, shares or bitcoin?

What were the biggest headlines of the year for investors? Who made the most questionable comments? Why were Ford Motor, Bath & Body Works, and Synaptics such surprising stocks in 2021? What makes the underlying businesses of Roku, Axon Enterprise, and Twilio better than their recent stock performances? Motley Fool analysts Andy Cross, Ron Gross, and Jason Moser answer those questions and share why Arkadiy Dobkin (EPAM Systems), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), and Marvin Ellison (Lowe’s) get their votes for CEO of the Year. Plus, the guys share investing discoveries they made in 2021 and three stocks on their radar (Chipotle, Costco, Crocs) that have a common trait among them.

Motley Fool Analyst Bill Mann joins us to talk about why the market is up but your portfolio may be down. We’ll share some big news and battle our online shopping demons.

Russ Mould of A J Bell wonders if the Bank of England is behind the curve, raising interest rates from 0.1% to 0.25%. CPI inflation is 5.1% with RPI the highest in 30 years. He gives an example of a company already implementing double-digit price rises. If investors think inflation and interest rates are set to rise further, Russ offers advice. What's worked for the past decade and more may no longer be sensible in the future.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University discusses with Simon Rose the ideas behind Egalitarian Capitalism as espoused by Gavin Oldham OBE, amongst other things the founder of Share Radio. He's keen to see a world with inter-generational rebalancing, where everyone has a disintermediated stake in capitalism (for more, see tinyurl.com/mrhzcb27). Tim also asks if Boris Johnson is still a lucky general or are his days numbered?

James Cameron-Wilson on UK film box office, impacted by the Omicron variant, with box office down 15%. West Side Story is #1 but with a disappointing £1.3m. Snapping at its heels is Clifford The Big Red Dog. Although feeling it could have been better, James found The Unforgiveable, with Sandra Bullock, to be gripping. It's a Netflix film, as are the two films garnering most nominations in the London Film Critics Awards, announced just before the recording, The Power Of The Dog and The Lost Daughter.

Steve Caplin and Simon Rose look at the latest in high- (and low-) tech. Kyoto University have produced a face mask that can detect Covid, while Amazon are now selling PCR tests. Scientists have developed a phone security system that relies on how you walk, commercial-sized planes using liquid hydrogen and a yacht that makes its own hydrogen from seawater. With wearable electronics becoming more popular, Canadian boffins have come up with a washable battery while some in Japan have devised a bus that is also a train - and vice versa.

The greatest hurdle first-time buyers face after years of house prices rocketing far faster than wages is saving for a deposit. A 10 per cent deposit on the average £273,000 home, according to Halifax’s index, would be £27,300 – roughly an entire year’s average salary. That’s a tough gig to save while paying rent, bills, commuting costs, living expenses and trying to at least enjoy your 20s or 30s a little bit. So what can prospective homeowners do to get that money? How long would it take to save and can the often-maligned Lifetime Isa be a real no-brainer of a booster here. On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert talk about trying to buy your first home, saving for a deposit, and whether new Bank of England rules designed to make mortgages easier to get could end up backfiring and sending prices even higher. Those potential rule changes come about because problematically, if a first-time buyer could save that £27,300, they would then need to borrow £245,700 on a mortgage to buy the average home. Even if they were able to find a bank or building society that would offer to lend them five times their salary, an individual first-time buyer would need to earn about £50,000 per year to qualify. A shift to enabling first-time buyers to borrow more would bridge that gap, at the expense of huge mortgages, but could it just drive house price inflation. Also on this week’s podcast, could a savings platform boost your rate, what a damning report into Ofgem’s role in energy supplier collapse said and in the year that is a gift that keeps on giving, Christmas present inflation.

The Talk by the WealthiHer Network every month on Share Radio. Tamara Gillan, founder of WealthiHer, is joined by partners and experts from within the network to explore different aspects of what women should know about business, investing, money and leadership.

Adam Cox is joined by Richard Sager, drinks expert from NIO Cocktails, to discuss how to nail the perfect Christmas cocktail get together. They look at how NIO is aiming to make Christmas get togethers easier and how to plan the perfect party without the added stress of making custom drinks.