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The European Central Bank cut rates this week and the Fed is expected to cut rates next week. When money gets cheaper, the party gets started. David Meier and Ricky Mulvey discuss OpenAI’s $50 billion valuation jump in one week, a space SPAC that’s more than 10xed since April 2024, and one of Warren Buffett’s top lieutenants selling $140 million of Berkshire Hathaway stock. Then, 16 minutes in, Asit Sharma joins Ricky to look back on Meta’s turnaround story and what it means for investors today. Companies discussed: MSFT, ASTS, RKLB, BRK.A, BRK.B, META, LE. Host - Ricky Mulvey; Guests - David Meier, Asit Sharma

It's Pension Awareness Week! Adam Cox is joined by Rebecca O'Connor from PensionBee to discuss new data about pensions. Discussing questions such as do you know how much you have saved so far? And what about the target you should be aiming for to maintain your current lifestyle? https://www.pensionbee.com/uk

People who are trapped in a sense of unworthiness may not even realise it, as the mind can accumulate irrefutable evidence for itself to support all sorts of belief systems — what hypnotists describe as cognitive bias. However the trap can be exposed: for instance, in the case of unworthiness by finding it difficult to receive a compliment. Adam Cox helps to unwrap such traps and shows the way to escape their clutches.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that Labour, beginning with the means testing of the winter fuel payment, has moved to the right of the Conservatives and begun a barrage of welfare cuts. He believes the Tories have fallen into Starmer's trap and do not know how to react; they need a more sophisticated approach to opposition. He discusses how Labour intend to drive growth with a housebuilding spurt but will central planning work? And he marvels at the inflexion point that is AI, particularly withthe news that AI will be able to detect early signs of over 1,000 diseases.

Box office is up 47%, says James Cameron-Wilson, helped by the 36-years-on Tim Burton sequel to Beetlejuice called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Still with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, James found it laugh-out-loud funny and wildly imaginative with amazing production design. At #10 is the oddly-titled Firebrand, the story of Catherine Parr (Alicia Vikander) and Henry VIII (Jude Law), which is fascinating to history buffs, if a little uncinematic. However, Robin and the Hoods on Sky Movies, a children's fantasy, was, despite an enjoyable screenplay, embarrassingly bad.

Tech maven Steve Caplin says that South Korean scientists have discovered that fish guts can inhibit the effects of ageing. Swiss doctors performed a remote endoscopy on a pig in Hong Kong. Tartrazine can make skin transparent. Apple's new iPhone will appeal particularly to those keen on photography and has clever new auto-generated emojis. There's a keenly-priced new photography drone. Honda are making a foldable generator which will either charge your EV or turn into a mini motorbike. And the World Heath Organisation have proven that there really is no link between mobile phones and cancer.

In the wake of the AngloGold Ashanti bid for Centamin at 1.7x price/book value, Russ Mould of A J Bell explains why so many gold miners are being bid for. Russ points out that gold mining shares are at an all-time low compared to the gold price. And gold itself is no more expensive relative to equities than it was when Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard. Combined with the fact that utiities are the top US performing sector, perhaps it indicates that, after 16 years of an extreme monetary exeriment, investors are expecting something nasty to crawl out of the woodwork.

Pope Francis calls for more focus on children, suggesting that in many countries pets take preference. If the hard-won values of gender equality are to benefit generations well into the future, western democracies need to help young people towards family formation. His comments may have been prompted by the collapse in Italian fertility rates to just 1.3 birth per woman: well below the 2.1 needed for a stable population. Background music: 'Young And Old Know Love' Puddle of Infinity

Inheritance tax punches above it s weight. It is paid by only a small minority of estates, yet manages to be Britain's most hated tax and its most controversial. Some believe it's immoral double taxation and should be axed altogether, others say crank it up - and somewhere in the middle there are many people who feel that taking 40% is just too much. But it's also a tax that even those with an expensive home and plenty of savings can generally avoid if they choose, by spending more and giving more away in their lifetime. The problem is that they need to survive seven years or they may get caught by some very outdated gifting allowances. Yet, there is a little-known loophole that allows people to give away considerably more without worrying about the seven-year rule. Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert look at inheritance tax and the surplus income rule. They discuss this trick to beat death duties and the catches it comes with and all the other rules surrounding IHT. Also — noisy heat pumps, the British ISA meets its maker and our failure to support the high streets that we moan about dying.

Adam is Cox is joined by Steven Truman from Cladding Consulting. After the Grenfell report this week, Steven talks to Adam all about cladding remediation and the outcomes that could be useful to for people who live on these properties. https://www.claddingconsulting.co.uk/