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The birth rate is falling swiftly, leaving wealthy old folk with their ever greater reserves looking for a home. Meanwhile Professor Eric French and his colleagues ask, 'Why Do Retired Households Draw Down Their Wealth So Slowly?', showing how in the United States 80% of bequests are left to an ever-decreasing number of descendants, and just 2% to charity. It's time for a re-think whose purpose is inter-generational rebalancing. Background music: 'Young And Old Know Love' by Puddle of Infinity

With next week's Budget (Wednesday 6th March) tipped to be the Chancellor’s last roll of the dice before a General Election, expectations over tax cuts are growing. But what taxes could Jeremy Hunt choose to cut and why – and is there hope that he will sort out the tax mess that Britain has got stuck in. The higher income child benefit charge creates marginal tax rates above 50%, meanwhile the removal of the personal allowance bakes in a 60% income tax rate between £100,000 and £125,140. Should these tax traps and painfully high stamp duty be removed? Simon Lambert argues that Mr Hunt needs to have a clear out, chuck a load of stuff in the stupid tax box and bin it. Simon, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce look ahead to what could be in the Budget and what it would mean for you. Also, energy bills are due to fall as the price cap is cut: but how much will this save you? It’s not just tax catching people out, student loans are also proving difficult to shift as interest mounts up due to high inflation. Does the student finance system need a sort out too? And what is Simon’s triple lock for student loans plan? And finally, don’t get spear-phished or tap-jacked, Lee talks us through the new scams you need to know about.

Earnings season rolls on plus some acquisitions made the news this week. Emily Flippen and Andy Cross discuss earnings reports for Nvidia, Etsy, Wayfair, Walmart, Palo Alto Networks, and MercadoLibre, and an acquisition roundup: Capital One is acquiring Discovery Financial and Walmart is acquiring Vizio. Then, 19 minutes in, Bloomberg reporter, Kurt Wagner talks about Twitter and his new book “The Battle for the Bird”. Finally, 34 minutes in, Emily and Andy break down two stocks on their radar: Grab Holdings and HubSpot. Stocks discussed: NVDA, ETSY, W, WMT, PANW, MELI, COF, DFS, GRAB, HUBS. Host - Ron Gross; Guests- Emily Flippen, Andy Cross, Kurt Wagner

Why would Eli Lilly put on a failure party? Deidre Woollard talked about the art of failing with Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, and author of “Right Kind of Wrong”. They discuss: the complex failure at Boeing, what to do after something goes wrong, and the problem with “move fast and break things”. Companies discussed: BA, LLY. Host - Deidre Woollard; Guest - Amy Edmondson

We can all think of near misses which could have been devastating, but instead resulted in a massive sigh of relief; but do we always learn the lessons for the future? The real value of such experiences, the real gift, is to see such experiences as an opportunity not to test fate again in that way. In aviation, near misses are generally analysed carefully with a detailed investigation — Adam Cox uses that metaphor to show how the same logic can be applied in our personal lives.

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates UK box office up 89% with Bob Marley: One Love #1 racking up £6.9m. But James was disappointed, finding the biopic a hagiography, a series of vignettes rather than a gripping story. He much preferred Madame Web at #3 with Dakota Johnson in a well-engineered and much more believable and human superhero story than we've been used to of late. Despite other critics, James couldn't recommend it more. Not so Players, an unoriginal romcom on Netflix about playing the field, which he found exasperating and populated with characters with unlimited money and time. He also mentions the BAFTAs praising host David Tennant.

Steve Caplin discusses the amazing advances in AI Sora videos. It transpires that rice is NOT the best way of drying out wet phones. With a shortage of guide dogs, a robot seeing-eye dog is being developed in Glasgow. Clothing impregnated with nanodiamonds could cool you in summer. Japan believes a satellite made of magnolia could be more environmentally friendly than aluminium. Bumpy solar cells are more efficient. Rice filled with fat and muscle could be a cheap high-protein food. Doctors can operate remotely on the International Space Station. And Israeli scientists can – literally – grow a pair.

Politicial commentator Mike Indian discusses the uproar in the Commons over Gaza amendments which has damaged Speaker Lindsay Hoyle's hitherto high reputation. Party politics has once more trumped meaningful debate in a world where MPs are increasingly seen as being targets. Mike asks if this was a face-saving exercise for the Labour leadership and assesses what it means for the Speaker. He also returns to the Post Office Horizon Scandal and questions whether public-owned bodies providing key services to the state like the Post Office ought to be run as businesses at all. Lastly, he turns to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. With much of the world turning towards authoritarianism, Mike feels we must cherish and strengthen our democracy.

Neil Shah of Edison Group looks at Rolls-Royce in the wake of results showing record profitability and a massive turnaround in the business. It shows, he feels, the importance of leadership with CEO Tufan Erginbilgic able to explain clearly what is happening within a complex business, driving long-term profitability by focussing on the things that matter. He feels there is much further to go with the stock. He also highlights Pan African Resources with a new note on the Edison website. A South African precious metals miner, it is lowly valued compared to its peers and somewhat overlooked. Despite some political risk, it is going in the right direction.

Much like Sir Keith Joseph, Michael Gove provides intellectual stimulus for the Conservative Party. 'Breaking the cycle of deprivation' was Keith Joseph's strategy in the mid-70s, but after 32 years of Conservative governments there's little progress to show. Is Michael Gove just talking about housing or can he tackle the wider issue, including unclaimed Child Trust Funds? Background music: 'Waiting' by Andrew Langdon