The Bottom Line

Evan Davis and guests discuss how best to resolve disputes between colleagues - both making the best of it and avoiding the worst. Despite our best efforts, conflict never disappears – it’s always there, when humans gather. In the office, it can be start with something as trivial as a coffee cup left on a colleague's desk. And from there, it can spiral into a situation where people are unwilling to work with each other, or even suffer mental ill health as result. Three experts give advice on how to prevent conflict festering and the best ways to mediate when co-workers end up at daggers drawn. GUESTS Gill Dix, head of workplace policy at ACAS Felicity Steadman, mediator, The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution Ade Adeniji, mediator and investigatorProducers: Kirsteen Knight, Lucinda Borrell and Sandra Kanthal Sound: Graham Puddifoot Editor: Hugh Levinson

How can companies create a level playing field for applicants and employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds? Evan Davis and guests discuss the sometimes invisible barriers and assumptions which exclude some from getting jobs or getting promoted. Many believe that the job interview format tends to favour the social skills of those from the middle and upper middle classes. Diversity schemes help - but there are questions about whether they go far enough. Is this the final taboo when it comes to equality in employment?Guests: Professor Lee Elliot-Major, University of Exeter Sandra Wallace, chair, Social Mobility Commission and one of the Managing Directors for UK & Europe, DLA Piper Jenny Baskerville, Head of Inclusion, Diversity & Social Equality, KPMGProducer: Lucinda Borrell Sound: Graham Puddifoot Editor: Hugh Levinson

The National Lottery contract is up for grabs. While the results aren't scheduled to be announced until early 2022, the bids are in and being considered - and across the industry it seems that this is the closest competition yet with four major players in the running. How do lotteries, large and small, operate? And what obligations does the industry have towards customers who might be vulnerable? Evan Davis speaks to Camelot, who have been running The National Lottery since its inception 27 years ago, and to industry leaders, about the changing world of lotteries. GUESTS Matthew Risdale, Executive Director, Camelot Richard Dixon, Managing Director, Sterling Lotteries Tony Vick, Chair, The Lotteries Council PRODUCERS Tanya Beckett & Lucinda BorrellSOUND Rod Farquhar

Evan Davis looks at the expanding world of ultrafast home delivery. App-based firms like Getir promise to get a grocery order to your home in just 10 minutes. During the pandemic demand for such services skyrocketed. As new companies enter the market, is Q-commerce economically sustainable - or will there be a brutal shake-out? Evan speaks to players in this rapidly growing sector - and to a critic of it. GUESTS Turancan Salur, general manager, Getir UK Christa Bloom-Burrows, co-founder, Biff's Jessica Moulton, senior partner, McKinsey & company Adam Badger, research student, Royal Holloway, University of LondonProducer: Lucinda Borrell Sound: Rod Farquhar

Can carbon capture save the planet - and make money? The government has announced millions of pounds of funding to support the UK's emerging carbon capture industry. How will it change our futures?Evan Davis speaks to the head of The East Coast Cluster, a project awarded some of this financial support, alongside other industry leaders, to understand whether this revolutionary technology could solve our climate change problems, or whether it is another way to evade our environmental obligations. GUESTSAndy Lane, vice president (CCUS), BP & head of East Coast Cluster Esin Serin, UK policy analyst, The Grantham Institute of Climate Change Olivia Powlis, head of UK office, Carbon Capture and Storage Assosciation Julie Golsalvez, chief marketing officer, ClimeworksPRODUCER Lucinda Borrell

In 2020, the pandemic hit, and the world locked down. Suddenly white-collar staff went from working in the office, to working remotely. But now we are opening up, will people want to return? Hybrid working has become the buzzword of employers across the country, allowing individuals to have more flexibility over where they work. So how likely is this to function effectively? How do businesses manage staff and productivity? And will there ever be anyone in the office on Fridays....? Join Evan Davis and guests to find out.GUESTS Emma Stewart, Co-Founder, Timewise Sam Bowerman, HR Director, Retail Businesses, NatWest Group UK Lisa Kennery, HR and Marketing Director, The Pierce GroupPRODUCER Julie Ball

Labour shortages, particularly in the hospitality and HGV sector have dominated the headlines from petrol shortages, to worries about Christmas dinner being off the menu. And its not just the logistics sector at risk - hospitality, agriculture and the care sector have all reported labour problems in post-pandemic, post-Brexit Britain. So what exactly is the solution? Do we bring in more labour from abroad? Do we invest in training and developing British workers? Or are companies going to have to pay better wages and improve working conditions? Join us on this week's The Bottom line to find out...GUESTSRain Newton Smith, Chief Economist, CBI Alan Manning, Economist, London School of Economics Kaan Hendekli, JJ Food Services

The extraordinary success of the creation of vaccines for Covid-19 has made the business of clinical trials look simple. But appearances can be deceptive and it usually takes many years and costs hundreds of millions of pounds to bring a new drug, therapy or medical device successfully to market.Evan Davis and his guests discuss how the economics of commercial clinical trials now look for companies in the light of such a disruptive event as the pandemic. How far is greater collaboration - with start-ups partnering with big pharma and research companies - changing the way in which trials operate? And will new tech developments - like the greater, tailored use of Artificial Intelligence, digital data and advanced statistical techniques - make the process cheaper and quicker - while compromising neither safety nor patient confidentiality?Those taking part are: Nuala Murphy of the executive team at Icon plc, a Dublin-based clinical research organisation which last year worked with Pfizer/BioNTech on their Covid

Should consumers be told the carbon footprint of the products they buy? And if so, how? In recent years, a shift in customer attitudes towards climate change has caused businesses to up their game when it comes to showcasing the environmental impact of products. But just how transparent it this? How much do buyers want to know about how sustainable their shopping is? Evan Davis and guests discuss the highly complex issues around carbon labelling and how best to communicate sustainable business practices.GuestsEmma Keller, Head of Sustainability UK & Ireland, Nestle Barry Clavin, Ethics and Sustainability Reporting Manager, Co-Op Hugh Jones, Managing Director, The Carbon TrustProducer: Lucinda Borrell Sound: Neil Churchill Production Coordinators: Iona Hammond and Siobhan Reed

Electric vehicles are a hot topic. Nissan has announced it will construct a factory to produce EVs, while the government says no new vehicles running on petrol or diesel will be sold after 2030. The electric transport sector will play a crucial role in tackling climate change. But are we on track to hit these targets? Can EVs deliver the same reliable service as combustion engine vehicles and reduce "range anxiety"? Does the rolling out of this transition have consumers convinced? Evan Davis and guests discuss.Guests Lex Hartman, CEO, Ubtricity Toddington Harper, CEO, GridServe Tanya Sinclair, UK & Ireland Policy Director, ChargepointProducer Lucinda Borrell

The spending power of disabled people and their families - the so-called purple pound - is valued at £249 billion a year. So is there a competitive business advantage in designing accessible goods and services? Evan Davis and guests discuss, with examples ranging from haircare products to hotel rooms. GuestsSam Latif, Company Accessibility Leader at Proctor and Gamble Robin Sheppard, Co-Founder and President of Bespoke Hotels and Gavin Neate, Chief Executive and Founder of NeateboxProducer: Lesley McAlpine Sound: Andy Garratt

For nearly 20 years, the cruise industry experienced huge growth. Then a pandemic hit. After a year of forking out for boats docked in port and devastating headlines chronicling outbreaks early on in 2020, what does this mean for the future of cruises? How are they restarting, what barriers are they facing and - most importantly - how do they convince customers that they are indeed safe?Guests Dr Jennifer Holland, Lecturer in Tourism, Suffolk Business School Ben Bouldin, Vice President, EMA, Royal Caribbean Cruises

For years the suburbs have been seen as places to live, from which you can commute to a big city to work. But has the pandemic pushed the economic pendulum in the other direction? With more people working from home and cities becoming quieter, could this lead to a revival of the suburban economy? Evan Davis explores the national picture and hears from entrepreneurs in Denton, Greater Manchester, who have helped revive its struggling town centre, encouraging people to spend money locally.GuestsJohn Spencer, Chief Executive of BizSpace Yael Selfin, Chief Economist of KPMG in the UKProducer: Lesley McAlpine

How can businesses cope with supply shortages? Car factories across the world have had to shut down because they can't get hold of enough silicon chips. And as many economies bounce back post-Covid, other industries are facing similar problems. How can enterprises plan both for sudden falls and surges in demand and how quickly can supply chains cope? Evan Davis and guests discuss. Guests: Dr Andy Palmer, CEO of Switch Mobility Maureen O'Shea, Leader of Supply Chain and Operations Management for KPMG John Neuffer, President and CEO of the US Semiconductor Industry AssociationProducer: Lucinda Borrell

The pandemic has given a nudge to the decline of cash. If that is the past - what is the future for our payments system? Could it simply be cards linked to bank accounts, handled via apps? Or could we be approaching a pivotal moment when the exciting (or maybe alarming) world of crypto and digital currencies take over? Central banks around the world are pondering this very question and are poised to launch their own digital currencies. Evan Davis and guests look into the future of money.Guests:Professor Catherine Mulligan, visiting lecturer at Imperial College, London and director of D-Central Lab at Lisbon University, Marcus Hughes, European managing director for Coinbase, a crypto trading platform Paige McCartney, senior business reporter at the Nassau Guardian

When you have billions it's impossible to spend it all on yourself and your family. So what else do you do? Join the space race like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos or start a foundation like Bill Gates and follow in the footsteps of the massively wealthy industrialists of the Gilded Age, like Andrew Carnegie or John D Rockefeller? What do they tell us about our world is changing for better or worse.GUESTSDr. Katharina Rietzler, Lecturer, American History, University of SussexPaul Vallely, Author, 'Philanthropy: From Aristotle to Zuckerberg'Manfred Kets de Vries, Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change, INSEAD and Abigail Disney, Co-founder Fork Films and host of All Ears podcastProducer: Julie BallEditor: Hugh Levinson

It’s all around us and has pride of place in the periodic table. Hydrogen is the number one element. For decades it’s been hailed as a potentially cleaner alternative to the fossil fuels which power heavy industry, our homes and transport systems. But hydrogen from renewable sources has never quite realised its potential. It's expensive to produce. However, as the UK now has targets to cut carbon emissions, green hydrogen may have a major part to play in the clean-up. Evan Davis and guests discuss the business of hydrogen.Guests: Eugene McKenna, from the chemical giant, Johnson Matthey. Dr Laurie King, Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University. And Andrew Cunningham, managing director of Geopura, a green hydrogen energy supplier Producer: Lesley McAlpine

Since Brexit, many companies have had to set up a subsidiary operation in the EU to continue trading. What are the rules, regulations, pitfalls and costs? Evan Davis hears the experience of three very different businesses, in sectors ranging from tights to cheese to architecture.GUESTSBrie Read, founder and CEO SNAG GroupRoss Hutchinson, founder and principal director, Hutchinson & Partners, architectsSimon Spurrell, founder and CEO, Cheshire Cheese Company

The government wants to boost the UK's growing space industry through its £400 m investment in satellite communications firm OneWeb. The company is a pioneer, launching satellites in Low Earth Orbit with the aim of providing broadband to under-served areas of the globe. But there are rivals, Elon Musk's Starlink Constellation being the best known. So is the UK investment in OneWeb a moonshot moment? Evan Davis and guests boldly go into discussion over what happens when you combine cutting-edge technology with uncertain business outcomes - and whether the state should be involvedGuests:Professor Marek Ziebart, UCL Chris McLaughlin, OneWeb and Carissa Christensen, CEO, Bryce Space and Technology Producer: Lesley McAlpine

The rush on shares by individual investors, into struggling US video game store chain Gamestop was portrayed as an attempt by a new breed of retail investors to thwart hedge funds which were shorting the stock. Some investors won big, others lost everything and one hedge fund, Melvin Capital, lost half of its $13bn fund. Was this really a David and Goliath fight, signalling a win for retail stock pickers, collaborating on social media platforms like Reddit? And has it changed the future of investing? Evan Davis and guests discuss. GUESTS Holly MacKay, Founder and MD, Boring Money Jack Inglis, CEO of Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Mo and Danny, Online retail investors