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Political commentator Mike Indian looks at the English exam debacle, asking why the government stuck to using the algorithm, despite being told it would not work. He gives his own marks to Education Minister Gavin Williamson. He looks at the scrapping of Public Health England and wonders if it is a wise move. And he looks across the Atlantic to Joe Biden's pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate.

James Cameron-Wilson looks at a revival in the UK box office, where three films have managed to take six figure sums over the weekend. With Tenet due imminently to give cinemas a boost, he reviews the new Netflix blockbuster, Project Power, starring Jamie Foxx. He also looks back to a wartime classic, the early Billy Wilder film Five Graves to Cairo, out in a 4K Blu-Ray restoration that probably looks better than it did originally.

Steve Caplin looks at Apple's soaring market cap, problems for Hauwei phone users, autonomous driving on UK motorways from next year, emission-free aircraft, a French cargo sailing galleon, biogas from cow dung, a laser-powered satellite to clear up space junk, a smartphone camera to detect type-2 diabetes, wireless power delivery, a liquid-filled guitar and a revival of the ZX Spectrum.

Graham Spooner of The Share Centre discusses recent announcements from CRH and Persimmon. He looks at the significance of Schroders' announcement that staff can work from home long-term and casts his eye over gold's recent performance. He looks ahead to what we might expect from three businesses hit by Covid, WPP, Rolls Royce and James Fisher.

Adam Cox is joined by Juliet Gellatley, Founder and Director of Viva!, to explain why 3 in 4 new or emerging infectious diseases come from animals – mainly from wildlife trade and factory farming. Like SARS, bird flu, swine flu, Ebola and AIDS, Coronavirus originated in animals. 56 zoonotic diseases are responsible for an estimated 2.5 billion cases of human illness and 2.7 million deaths a year. Campaigners warn humanity will always be at risk to future pandemics while factory farms and wildlife markets continue. In response to this, animal rights group Viva! have launched their new 3 in 4 campaign, in a bid to raise public awareness of the dangers of continued meat consumption.

With the world getting used to a new sort of normal, a lot of us will be enjoying the perks of an increase in socialising with loved ones. But despite social distancing and lockdown measures relaxing, the issue of loneliness – especially among certain groups – looks set to continue. Vicky Sayers speaks to Naomi Phillips, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the British Red Cross, to find out about their latest research on the subject.

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, Financial Planning Fool Amanda Kish is back to discuss what you should do to be a successful investor.

Adam Cox is joined by gratitude specialist and author of The Gratitude Journal, Tina Torres. Tina shares how the power of gratitude turned her life around, simply by forcing her to focus on the things she is grateful for. Tina offers some tips to access the transformational power of gratitude, and highlights how business owners can harness gratitude to create loyal clients

We are in the worst recession in living memory for the UK with GDP plummeting by 22.1 per cent in the first six months of 2020. But strange as it may sound, does that matter? We knew things would be terrible as the coronavirus lockdown pressed the pause button on the economy and people’s lives. Shops were shut, businesses were shuttered, everyone who could worked from home, almost 10million people were furloughed, international travel was halted, property sales were frozen and children didn’t go to school for four months. If you’d have predicted that was what 2020 would bring last New Year’s Eve, nobody would have believed you and they might even have called for help. So, it should come as no surprise that the ONS released figures this week showing that this year’s astonishing actions crashed the economy – although the fact that the UK suffered more than any other major economy other than Spain is a cause for concern. The question is, what next? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost dig into the GDP figures to find out why the UK was hit so hard, whether we can read anything into the ONS’s figures and what to watch out for to identify if the economy is recovering better or worse than expected. Also on this week’s show, they discuss how amid all that carnage some households are getting their finances on track, how to buy a property in pandemic if you are an aspiring first-time buyer and how to keep your pension on track. And finally, the Government in its wisdom has decided to push on with getting Brexit fully done - even if it means no trade deal by the end of the year – and that will mean imported cars get more expensive. But fear not, new car buyers, because we’ve got the best British-built options instead – from a Nissan Juke shopping cart, to a gorgeous McLaren and the wonderfully bonkers Ariel Atom.

Simon Property Group talks with Amazon about mall-based distribution centers. Microsoft announces plans to sell a $1,400 foldable phone. Marriott rises despite reporting its first quarterly loss in more than eight years. Apple and Fortnite engage in a battle royale. Lyft deals with sinking revenue and California concerns. SmileDirectClub gives investors something to frown about. And Starbucks, Dunkin’, and Hershey’s get a head start on fall and Halloween. Motley Fool analysts Ron Gross and Jason Moser discuss those stories and share two stocks on their radar: Bed Bath & Beyond and Qualcomm. Plus, Lakehouse Capital Chief Investment Officer Joe Magyer discusses investing during the pandemic, why digital payment companies are creating structural changes, and how his thinking on Berkshire-Hathaway has evolved.