Business Daily

Ed Butler reports from Ukraine ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for the end of March. With endemic corruption and ongoing conflict with Russian-backed rebels in the east, what verdict will the voters give to the President Petro Poroshenko? Ed Butler speaks with MP Serhiy Leschenko who's recently left Poroshenko's Solidarity faction over concerns about corruption and nepotism. Other ca...

In India experts and parents increasingly question whether the country's education system is fit for purpose. With huge emphasis placed on college entrance exams and academic degrees - like engineering, medicine or law - Rahul Tandon explores what consequences that has on children's overall development. He visits an unorthodox school that uses Harry Potter to develop critical thinking, and he asks...

In a world designed by men for men, women often come off worst, sometimes with fatal consequences. Manuela Saragosa speaks to author Caroline Criado Perez about the gender data gap - the fact that everything from smartphone health apps to lapel microphones is designed with a male body in mind, and how for example cardiovascular problems in women go under-diagnosed because the female body is treate...

Is the US sugar industry's relationship with politicians, from Florida to Washington DC, just a little bit too sweet? Gilda Di Carli reports from the Sunshine State, where the newly elected Governor Ron DeSantis has vowed to take on the sugarcane lobby, which he blames for impeding efforts to tackle the gigantic algae blooms that have blighted Florida's rivers and coasts. Meanwhile Manuela Saragos...

Are health services around the world wilfully blind to the problem of dangerously long hours being worked by junior medics? Vivienne Nunis speaks to doctors in Australia and America about how tiredness and depression are not only ruining their lives, but also pose a threat to the safety of patients going under the knife or receiving prescriptions. And it's a worldwide problem - as Sydney-based doc...

Our appliances are getting increasingly difficult and expensive to mend, in some cases by design. So should consumers demand the right to repair? Ed Butler speaks to those campaigning for manufacturers to make it easier for us to fix our electronics goods - with everything from tractors to phones to baby incubators in their sites. Clare Seek runs a Repair Café in Portsmouth, England, a specially d...

Should the collection of vast genetic databases be dominated by private companies such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com? In the second of two programmes looking at the businesses riding high on the boom in home DNA testing kits, Manuela Saragosa looks at how the enormous head start these companies have over public sector DNA research initiatives may be skewing medical research. Will the profit motive dr...

What can you really learn about your heritage from a home DNA testing kit? We hear from Bill and Ylva Wires, a couple in Berlin who used DNA testing kits to find out more about their ancestors. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Rafi Mendelsohn of MyHeritage.com - one major company in this field - and Kristen V Brown who covers genetics stories for Bloomberg. Producer: Laurence Knight (Photo: Old family p...

The story of Theranos, a company that falsely claimed it could perform a full range of medical tests using just a tiny blood sample drawn by pricking your finger. Manuela Saragosa speaks to John Carreyrou, an investigative reporter with the Wall Street Journal and author of a book on the case, Bad Blood. Plus Silicon Valley venture capitalist Hemant Taneja explains why investors need to be more ca...

Should Facebook and others be forced by governments to take responsibility for what people are exposed to on their platforms? Social media companies' algorithms have come under particular scrutiny, with allegations that they push inappropriate content - such as neo-Nazi propaganda, self-harm videos and conspiracy theories - to its users, including to children. "Angry Aussie" YouTuber Andrew Kay de...

Poor diet has been linked to diseases such as diabetes and cancer, but do you have much of a choice if you are on a tight budget? Organic food is rising in popularity in the West, but Vishala Sri-Pathma asks nutritionist Sophie Medlin whether the additional cost of buying organic is actually worth it. And what if you are time poor, as well as short of money? Chef Tom Kerridge has tips for how even...

How bogus stats can get repeated again and again until they end up influencing policy at governments and major multilateral institutions. Ed Butler speaks to three people who claim they are struggling to slay these zombies. Ivan Macquisten is an adviser to the UK's Antiquities Dealers Association who actually wrote into Business Daily to complain about a previous programme that he claimed repeated...

Exporters express their fears and frustration at the lack of any agreement about future trade relations with just six weeks left to go until the UK leaves the EU. Adam Sopher of popcorn manufacturer Joe & Sephs tells Ed Butler how he is now having to send his wares to Asia via air freight, because by the time the usual ships reach dock in Hong Kong the UK will have left already and he still do...

Are women finally breaking through off screen in the film industry? A year on from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, why aren't there more female movie directors at the Oscars? Regan Morris reports from a Hollywood still coming to terms with the #MeToo movement. She speaks to Leah Meyerhof, founder of Film Fatales - a movement that brings together female film and TV directors on the West Coast - as we...

Is the era of globalisation, unfettered markets and billionaire philanthropists drawing to a close? Is the answer to rising populism for the state to tax the wealthy and invest more in the public good? Manuela Saragosa speaks to three people who say the populist revolts, from Brazil to the US, are symptomatic of an economic system in crisis. Winnie Byanyima, head of anti-poverty campaigners Oxfam,...

Should your head trump your heart when seeking lifelong love? That's the challenge Business Daily's Justin Rowlatt has taken on for this Valentine's Day. The hyper-rationalist businessman Ed Conard thinks he knows the answer, and his strictly mathematical strategy for romance is called "sequential selection, no turning back". He used it to meet his wife of the last 20 years, Jill Davis. But is Ed'...

Many African universities are not up to scratch, leaving African students vulnerable to scam institutions abroad. Ivana Davidovic reports from Northern Cyprus where many African students go looking for a better education. Nigerian businessman Evans Akanno explains the education problem at home, and Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, vice chancellor at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, expl...

Nigeria goes to the polls to elect a president this weekend. Two issues are prominent - the state of the economy and corruption. Local businessman Evans Akanno tells us why just getting the electricity to stay on would be a good start. Amy Jadesemi, CEO of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base, explains why global oil prices are still crucial to Nigeria. Benedict Crave, Nigeria analyst at the Eco...

Last month Dutch historian Rutger Bregman told the billionaires at the World Economic Forum in Davos they should think less about philanthropy and instead pay more tax. The clip of his speech went viral. He comes on the programme to argue his point with Ed Conard, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the book The Upside of Inequality, who says higher taxes just sto...

Funereal solutions on an overcrowded planet - Ed Butler investigates what various countries do when they run out of space to bury their dead. In Japan, where the construction of new crematoriums has often been blocked by unhappy neighbours, there is a literal multi-day backlog of bodies awaiting burial - and businesses ready to host them. In Greece, crematoriums are opposed by the Orthodox Church,...

Will online shopping and AI combine to kill the high street clothing store? Ed Butler gets himself digitally measured up in order to try on outfits in cyberspace, with the help of Tom Adeyoola, founder of virtual browsing business Metail. Meanwhile Julia Boesch - who runs Outfittery, one of Europe's biggest online fashion retailers, out of her office in Berlin - explains how artificial intelligenc...

At what point should you give up your day-job to pursue your own business side-project full-time? And should governments do more to help those who want to do it? Manuela Saragosa explores the world of the successful "side-hustler" - the closet entrepreneur who takes an after-hours pet project and turns it into a whole new business. Alexandria Wombwell-Povey gave up insurance brokerage to launch he...

If the UK crashes out of the EU on 29 March with no agreement on continuing trade relations, how will it affect Britain's supplies of fresh food? Could the country's supermarket shelves be left empty? Dan Saladino speaks to farmers, traders and officials fretting at the unknown but potentially serious consequences of a "no deal" Brexit for food security in the UK, as well as one middle class famil...

Climate Change: Can the world economy continue to grow without burning fossil fuels? Or do we all need to cut back on our consumption in order to save the planet? It is a question that splits the green movement. Justin Rowlatt hosts a fiery debate between two environmentalists on either side of the divide, who have already been tearing chunks out of each other in a very public dispute online. Mich...

Are Apple and Samsung running out of people to sell their smartphones to? And who wants to pay for an upgrade when their old phone is good enough? Manuela Saragosa asks whether Apple's recent disappointing earnings are less to do with China's slowing economy - as the company claims - and more the fact that the market for iPhones has become saturated. With few major tech improvements on the horizon...