To some it may sound absurd to consider hairstyles a workplace issue, but for millions of men and women with African and Afro-Caribbean hair, it is just that. For decades, some hairstyles have been discouraged at work. But things are finally starting to change. In 2021 the US Airforce changed its hair code to be more inclusive. We explore the historic racism behind hair-based discrimination and hear from the women who have united to change attitudes and laws. We speak to businesswomen, historians and those in the arts – from the UK, the US and East Africa – to find out what hair has to do with it all anyway.Presenter: Vivienne Nunis Producer: Sarah TreanorThis is a repeat of a programme first broadcast on 19 Feb 2021(Image credit: Getty)

How deep are your pockets? Are they big enough to carry all the things you need? Your money, keys and mobile phone? If you’re a woman, the answer is most likely a no. This little pouch has a lot to say about gender roles and a woman’s right to financial independence. We hear about the great divide in pocket designs that has existed for hundreds of years with Ariane Fennetaux, author of The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660–1900. We take a trip to London’s V&A Museum to see how pockets – or a lack of them – led to the billion-dollar handbag industry, and we hear from Indian fashion designer and founder of the Meri Pocket campaign group, Taarini Saraf on the fight for pocket justice. Presented by Vivienne Nunis. Produced by Sarah Treanor. Music used with the kind permission of: @HebontheWeb Image: A women's small jean pocket. Credit: Getty images.

“Lying flat” - or tang ping - is a trend among mainly young Chinese to opt out of the rat race and it represents the antithesis of a development model that has delivered extraordinary growth for the country over four decades. The sentiment has been widespread enough to warrant a public condemnation from the President. Xi Jinping.Ed Butler hears from "Jeff," a computer developer from Hangzhou, but working in Beijing, who explains why he decided to give up on the Chinese dream in pursuit of a better quality of life. The BBC's China specialist Kerry Allen describes how the trend has developed online and how it has been accelerated by the forced slowdown during the pandemic. And Dr Lauren Johnston, a scholar of Chinese economics with a focus on the demographic shifts, says that both the privileged and the poorer 20 and 30-somethings feel exhausted by the Chinese ultra-competitive world of work and family pressures.Producer: Ivana Davidovic(Photo: Illustration of the lying flat movement. Credit: Sina Weibo)

Mobile trading apps have been booming in popularity, opening the door to millions of new, often young or first time investors. For many in the finance sector it is great news, but questions remain about whether people always know the amount of financial risk they are taking on. One criticism in particular is that some of these new platforms look, act and react more like a video game than an investment platform. Is that the essential appeal that attracts new users, or does it just obscure the risks?Rob Young speaks to the boss of one of the biggest platforms in this sector, Yoni Assia, the boss of eToro. He hears too from Vicky Bogan, professor at Cornell University’s business school, who studies the "gamification" of finance as well as Professor Erik Gordon, at the University of Michigan's Business School. And Sarah Pritchard from the UK's regulator the Financial Conduct Authority tells Rob about efforts to encourage young users to invest safely, and how protecting them is their priority.

The pandemic has been very hard on commercial aviation, but most experts believe the sector will soon be growing again – fast. The BBC's Theo Leggett takes a look at what new technologies are out there. Sandra Bour Schaeffer, Chief Executive of Airbus Upnext, tells him what the aviation giant is planning for the future. Neil Cloughley, from the much smaller Faradair Aerospace, makes the case for why their hybrid-electric technology is the way forward for flying. On the other hand, Blake Scholl of Boom Supersonic says that, two decades after the end of supersonic jet Concorde, it's time for airliners to break the sound barrier once again. But if we want to protect the environment, should we be flying at all? Matt Finch, UK policy director of the Brussels-based lobby group Transport and Environment, says yes - but not quite so often. (Image: the ZEROe blended wing body concept, Credit: Airbus)

On this edition of Business Weekly, we’re looking at the US inflation rate. It has hit 7% year on year, the largest rise since 1982. Used car prices and food costs are shooting up. We hear from Wells Fargo Economist Sarah Watt House and Gerald Daniels, an Associate Professor of Economics at Howard University who specialises in the economics of inequality. The BBC’s Ed Butler looks at the recent protests in Kazakhstan and we have a look inside the UK trials into psychedelic drugs for patients suffering with depression. Plus, we browse the shelves of ultra rare whisky, and hear why, and how, some parts of the Scottish industry are booming. The BBC’s Elizabeth Hotson talks to both keen collectors, and dedicated producers. Business Weekly is presented by Sasha Twining and produced by Clare Williamson.

It’s just over a year since the UK’s trading relationship with the EU fundamentally changed. So how are small businesses in Britain finding life outside the single market and customs union? The BBC's Vivienne Nunis speaks with chocolate-maker Jacques Cop of Coco Caravan and Kathleen May from the London-based independent publisher, Hurst, as well as Sally Jones, trade strategist at EY. Image: Hand drawing a red line between the UK and the rest of the European Union. Credit: Getty

Why can't multinationals like KFC source their ingredients locally? A shortage of fries at KFC restaurants in Kenya has led many to call for a boycott of the chain after it transpired that the company imported all of its potatoes, despite them being abundantly grown in the country. Potatoes are Kenya's second-most consumed crop after maize, and are cultivated mostly by small-scale farmers. As Covid hits global supply chains and words like sustainability and climate gain greater importance, is it time for multinationals to start looking closer to home for their goods? Kathambi Kaaria is a climate change and sustainability advisor in Nairobi and comes from Meru, a potato growing region of Kenya. She told Tamasin Ford that when KFC arrived in the country eleven years ago she tried to supply them potatoes. Leonard Mudachi, the CEO of a Kenyan restaurant management company Branded Restaurants Africa Ltd, said he wasn’t surprised to learn that KFC imports its chips but does think that multinational companies should start scrutinizing how and where they get their produce from. John Quelch is the Dean of the Miami University Herbert Business School in the United States. He told Tamasin that the issue for a major international brand is the quality and consistency of locally sourced produce and that one mistake by one supplier can lead to a massive fallout for the companies. (A boy looks at potatoes for sale in a market in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya; Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

How might the protests shake up the economy, trade and business in the Central Asian nation?Ed Butler speaks to Diana Kudaibergenova, a sociology professor at Cambridge University and herself Kazakh, about what motivated the protests, and whether the apparent ouster of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev plus a host of new economic reforms will be enough to appease the protesters.But what does all this mean for foreign business interests in the country? Kate Mallinson of Chatham House says many Western oil executives will be having sleepless nights, while Russia's President Vladimir Putin may require an economic dividend for his military help in stabilising the situation. And what of Kazakhstan's other giant neighbour, China? Raffaello Pantucci of the Royal United Services Institute says the upheaval has come at a time when many Kazakhs were questioning the seeming one-sidedness of their increasingly close economic ties.(Picture: Kazakh security officials stand guard in the aftermath of protests in Almaty; Credit: Pavel Pavlov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Does the global economy need to start dismantling 'global white privilege'? The Black Lives matter protest movement has focussed lots of attention on racial attitudes in rich western countries. How easy is it for instance, for people of black or Asian heritage to get on the ladder to business success in those countries? But is the economics of what's now called 'white privilege' a global problem too? Ed Butler speaks to Chandran Nair, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Global Institute for Tomorrow, an independent think-tank in Hong Kong and the author of ‘Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World’. And also to Lucinda Platt, from the London School of Economics, who has recently written a report for the IFS on the degree of social and economic mobility being achieved among the UK's minority racial and ethnic groups.